ONGOLE: The State government has given the administrative sanction for Rs 355.41 crore funds to solve the long pending water scarcity in the Ongole Municipal Corporation (OMC) limits under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)-2.0 programme of the Union government. In the OMC limits, about 70 per cent population gets drinking water daily through tap connections.
The remaining 30 per cent people are depending on the water tankers. Now the OMC is planning to lay pipelines from the Raamateertham Reservoir (near Chimakurthy) and also to construct a total of 18 overhead water storage tanks at various locations to provide drinking water tap connections to the remaining households. The government also provides financial support for the proposed household drinking water tap connections in the Markapur, Podili, Darsi, Giddalur and Kanigiri municipalities of the district. Authorities are making arrangements to call for the tenders to start work as early as possible.
Through the GO-MS-No-12, the AP government has given administrative sanction for a total of Rs 494.87 crore for all six municipalities of the district. Among the six municipalities, Ongole Municipal Corporation (OMC) got the lion’s share with Rs 355.41 crore, remaining funds were shared to the water supply projects of the other local bodies.
Similarly, Darsi Nagar Panchayat with Rs 1.21 crore funds, Podili Nagara Panchayat with Rs 7.26 crore, Markapur got Rs 4.42 crore, Giddalur with Rs 3.42 crore, Kanigiri got Rs 2.66 crore and Chimakurthy Nagar Panchayat got Rs 70 lakh funds.
OMC got Rs 123 crore funds for providing taps to households. But the OMC was not in a position to pay its share of Rs 70 crore from its own funds and the works were halted. The government has come forward to bear the burden of Rs 339.93 crore and now the OMC will spend only Rs 7.29 crore from its funds, which is feasible for it to spend.