Demand for water supply emerged as the prime concern for Siliguri residents with their new mayor Gautam Deb on Saturday during his first interaction with them after assuming the chair.

After becoming mayor last month, Deb had announced a“Talk to Mayor” session for an hour every Saturday at the Siliguri Municipal Corporation where any resident can call him up on civic issues.

During the debut session on Saturday, Deb received 32 phone calls. Around 50 per cent of the callers spoke about drinking water supply.

The existing water treatment plant in Fulbari on the southern end of Siliguri provides around 50 million litres of drinking water a day, far below the daily requirement of 80 million litres in all 47 wards.

The civic body has embarked on a new mega water project with the state PHE department and is pursuing a fund of Rs 470 crore for it.

“I will speak with officials of the PHE department to know details about the progress of the project. I will also ask PHE officials to expedite the process of installing a deep tube-well in ward 5 of the city,” said Deb after the session. In ward 5, SMC plans to install the deep tube well for Rs 1 crore.

“Later this month, he (mayor) will present the annual budget of the next fiscal at the civic body. Before that, he wants to gather detailed updates on drinking water projects and is in talks with the state PHE department,” said a source.

Water apart, the mayor said that the civic body will revamp a local market at Khudirampally of Siliguri in association with the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority and the NB development department.