Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) has initiated the process to supply water from Damodar river through 11 out of the 31 towers constructed under the Rs 365-crore central government project conceptualised way back in 2011.

The civic body has kick-started the collection of application forms for allotment of water connections to residents of Katras and Chhatatand circles.

Month-long camps have been set up at different places of Katras and Chhatatand, including Bihibadi, Borragadh, Loyabad and Tata Sijua from Wednesday under the leadership of junior engineers DMC.

“Work for laying distribution pipelines from 11 water towers in Katras and Chhatatand circles have been completed. We will be forwarding the application forms to the drinking water and sanitation department, which, in turn, will allot the connections” municipal commissioner Chandramohan Kashyap said.

DMC junior engineer Mahesh Chandra Bhagat said water supply tests had been conducted on 14 of the 31 towers, but connections were initially being allotted from 11 towers because pipelines from the other three towers could not be laid owing to the widening of Govindpur-Mahuda road.

“In the initial phase, connections will be allotted through 11 towers situated in rural areas of Katras and Chhatatand such as Siyaljori, New Puti, Sijua and Tetulmari. Later, connections will be allotted through 20 other towers situated in urban areas of Dhanbad circle like Damodarpur, Telipara and Sabalpur,” Bhagat said.

Notably, the scheme was conceptualised under the millennium city project of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission in 2011 for supplying Damodar water in suburban and rural areas that are not covered under the Maithon Water Supply scheme.

Though the project was supposed to be completed in 2014, it was delayed by more than five years due to procedural snags.

The project was later divided into two parts, Sindri and Jamadoba, for convenience of execution.

The Sindri part, which required construction of a 13.5 million litres per day capacity water treatment plant, an intake wall of 19 million litres per day, five overhead tanks and laying of 84km of pipeline, was made operational in 2016.

The Jamadoba phase, which comprised construction of a 143 million litre per day capacity water treatment plant, an intake well of 183 million litre per day capacity, laying of over 260km of pipeline and installation of 31 overhead tanks, was delayed.