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CM Thackeray slams officials for no action in Aurangabad

Mumbai: At a review meeting held on Thursday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray lost his cool and demanded that the water crisis in Aurangabad (also known as Sambhajinagar unofficially) be dealt with swiftly. Incidentally, around `1,680 crore outlay was announced in the annual budget of the state in March 2022.

Presently, only 2% of the new water supply pipeline project work has been completed at a cost of `39 crore. As citizens go without water for as many as fiveday stretches at a time, CM Thackeray asked officials to address the issue at the earliest. “Don’t give me excuses. I want a way out,” he roared, at the meet.

According to a senior state secretariat official, “The water requirements of the district are met from the Jayakwadi dam. But the existing pipeline is over 25 years old. While 120 million litres a day (MLD) of water is the total requirement, existing infrastructure is only able to provide 90 MLD of water to people.”

The mismatch has only been aggravated by the unscrupulous tanker lobby, owned and operated by politicians across the board. The CM has a right to be angry, he added.

Until recently, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance was in power at the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), until an administrator took charge after the tenure of the civic body ended. The BJP has upped the ante and launched public protests over the water crisis, with an eye on the civic corporation elections that will be held over the next few months.

As reported by First India, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has scheduled a public meeting on June 08, 2022 in Aurangabad. The Shiv Sena is keen to take complete control over the civic corporation.

At Thursday’s meeting, the CM directed divisional commissioners to look into how much water can be added to the existing water supply system in the district to ease the problems faced by citizens.

He also threatened action against the contractors for slow-pedalling the work.

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