Chandigarh- Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Senior Deputy Mayor Jasbir Singh Bunty, Deputy Mayor Taruna Mahima, and Councilor Premlata jointly opposed the 24×7 water supply, calling it another burden on the people already struggling with inflation. They questioned why a project being investigated by the Chandigarh Vigilance Department was being imposed on the city's residents.
The three councilors stated that the 24×7 water supply scheme in Chandigarh has failed completely, as it was launched as a pilot project in Manimajra and inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. However, the people of Manimajra have not received clean drinking water, let alone 24-hour water supply. Consequently, the councilors repeatedly displayed contaminated water bottles at the Municipal Corporation. In Manimajra, this project resulted in broken streets and roads.
Councilor Premlata stated that politicians had promised 24/7 water supply, but that wasn't fulfilled. Instead, people received dirty water, infested with insects. RO water was promised.
Senior Deputy Mayor Jasbir Singh Bunty stated that this is a 60 million euro project, of which the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation borrowed 48 million euros and received 11 million euros in grants. This loan is to be repaid in 15 years at a fixed interest rate of 1.56 percent. In addition, penalty interest is also payable. When the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation took out the loan, the euro was worth 80 rupees, and today it has risen to 109 rupees, and is likely to increase further.
Bunty said that when the project was launched in Manimajra, ?60 crore was invested from Smart City and ?20 crore from the Municipal Corporation. However, it's unclear where this money was spent, as people received no benefits. Furthermore, residents are already burdened with a 5 percent increase in water rates every year.
Deputy Mayor Taruna Mahima asked that when people themselves don't want 24-hour water supply in Chandigarh, why are Chandigarh residents already suffering from inflation being subjected to additional taxes in the name of water? This failed project was implemented only in Manimajra, but its burden has been imposed on the entire Chandigarh for many years. In fact, every resident of Chandigarh has been paying an additional 5 percent increase every year under this project.
If this project is implemented across the entire city, it will be filled with potholes, and people will face daily problems. This project has already failed in Manimajra; if implemented across the entire city, the city will suffer huge losses. He said that in protest against this, we had placed a table agenda in the 353-B House meeting of the Municipal Corporation, but the Mayor rejected it and said that we will definitely implement this project and will definitely put a burden on the public.