Mineral foundation clears `1,400 cr for water projects
DHANBAD: The District Mineral Foundation Trust Board (DMFTB) cleared funds of `1,400 crore for water supply projects in Dhanbad.
A meeting of the board, chaired by deputy commissioner and ex-officio chairman of the board A Dodde, was held on Sunday where several projects were cleared to be implemented in phases within three years. The meeting was attended by the district mining officer and other trust board members.
The deputy commissioner said the DMFTB would be getting funds from royalty from mining of coal and other minerals.
The trust has around `165 crore and by the end of March, 2017, it expects to receive another `200 crore. The water supply schemes include multi-village water supply for Nirsa and Govindpur blocks for both North and South parts. The North part scheme will get `447 crore while the South part will receive `227 crore.
The projects were accorded technical sanction by the state government years ago but due to non-availability of funds and objections by the Damodar Valley Corporation, they were stuck in limbo.
Nirsa MLA Arup Chatterjee had been pressing for implementation of the schemes since long.
Chatterjee, who also attended the meeting, said, “Now that the DVC had agreed to provide water under these schemes from its Maithon and Panchet dams, I hope the residents of NirsaChirkunda and Govindpur would get the benefits.”
The board also cleared `1.13 crore for repair of pumps at Maithon intake well which supplies water to Dhanbad form the Maithon dam. The pumps got damaged this year.