Taking into account the status of depleting ground water level here in the Capital City, the long-awaited community rainwater harvesting project will initiate soon. The Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has started devising on the measures to set up the rainwater harvesting systems covering all the 53 wards.

In accordance to the plan, at each ward, five rainwater harvesting systems will be set up. The proposal of setting up as many as 330 rainwater harvesting systems covering the slum belts was sanctioned recently during the budget 2019-20. As per the Municipal Corporation’s record, covering all the 53 wards, there are 223 slums.

“For the first time, the construction of community rainwater harvesting at each ward has been put in the budget. A detailed draft is getting prepared by the water section division of RMC. Allotment of budget for the project will be done soon, in accordance to the size of each ward,” said president of RMC Standing Committee, Arun Jha.

“The construction will be carried out in phase-wise. The work will start covering 10 wards after the General Election- 2019. All the ward councilors have been advised to demarcate five appropriate spots at their respective wards,” added Jha.

The issue of constructing community rainwater harvesting system is being raised continuously in the wake of severe water crisis that continues to haunt the city residents even after summer season.

According to the plan proposed earlier, as many as 20 spots were identified for setting up the community rainwater harvesting systems at different localities. The plan of setting up community rainwater harvesting systems had received a collective consent of the ward councilors as well as of all officials in 2016; however, due to the lack of monetary assistance, the project was shelved.

Meanwhile, during the tenure of Former Municipal Commissioner, Prashant Kumar, the first community rainwater system was formally inaugurated on the premises of Zila School, Shaheed Chowk in the presence of Mayor Asha Lakra, Deputy Mayor Sanjiv Vijayawargia including others.

Yet, the setup which marked the beginning of promoting the much needed water conservation technique across the State Capital at present is lying defunct with Municipal Corporation paying no heed towards its maintenance.

“The order has been given to repair the first community rainwater harvesting setup. The water section has notified the concerned division about its status.

 Within a few days, it will be repaired,” said an official of RMC associated with water section board.