Sonkatch (Madhya Pradesh): Former cabinet minister and Congress MLA from Sonkatch Sajjan Singh Verma on Friday visited the place from where the Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited (KPTL) is lifting water from the Kalisindh river for the hydro test of the KGPL pipeline section.
Locals claim that after the company started testing work here, the water level of the river has receded by five-to-six feet. Sonkatch, which has a population of approximately 25,000, solely depends on the Kalisindh river for its water supply.
During the inspection, MLA Verma called Dewas district Collector Chandramauli Shukla on his mobile phone and raised objections over this act of the company.
While talking to Verma, the district collector assured him of necessary action in the matter. Verma said that the collector had admitted that whatever is going on here is against the norms as the company had no right to use drinking water for commercial use.
Verma also called the irrigation officer and questioned him about how could he or his department allow a private company to use this water for commercial purposes.
Notably, Kalpataru Power is working on the Kandla – Gorakhpur Pipe Line project and about 30.76-kilometre portion of the pipeline is passing through Sonkatch tehsil of Dewas district.
The project which is one of the most ambitious projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to construct the world’s longest LPG pipeline between Kandla in Gujarat to Gorakhpur via Varanasi and Madhya Pradesh, had hit a roadblock in Dewas district on February 25 after the Sonkatch municipal council snapped the power supply to the water lifting pump citing lack of necessary permission from the authority.
On the other hand, the company’s project in-charge CR Chapre had said that they had sought permission from the water resource department, Dewas the company had the permission letter as well. It’s a government project and we are doing our job here. We have to do a hydro test of pipeline and we sought permission to lift 500-kilo litre water from the water resource department paying its fees of Rs 8,000.“Municipal council has stopped us doing our duty without any explanation”, Chapre had said.
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Published on: Saturday, March 05, 2022, 01:22 AM IST
