As part of the Agartala Smart City initiative, five new drinking water treatment plants are being constructed around the capital city to ensure clean and safe water supply to surrounding areas. CEO of Agartala Smart City, Shailesh Kumar Yadav, IAS shared the information with media today.
Yadav stated that since 2010, the Government of Bangladesh has been requesting India to ensure all water flowing into Bangladesh from sources near Agartala is properly treated. Responding to this, both the Government of India and the Tripura State Government began setting up water treatment infrastructure from 2021 onwards.
Due to untreated wastewater from safety tanks and urban drains entering Katakhal and the Howrah River, water pollution has become a serious issue, something that is also illegal. To counter this, an 80,000 liter per day water treatment plant has already been built in the border area. In addition, five more plants are being constructed in which a 15 million liter plant near Abhaynagar Bridge, 10 million liter plant at Ranjit Nagar Katakhal and 5 million liter plant at Kalapaniya.
Moreover, all water sources on the southern bank of the Howrah River will be connected to pipelines leading to treatment facilities before being allowed to enter the river and subsequently flow into Bangladesh.
These initiatives are in line with the National Green Tribunal’s directive that prohibits the discharge of untreated wastewater into natural water sources. The Smart City CEO emphasised that the ongoing efforts aim to prevent environmental damage and uphold international water sharing commitments.
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