The Jalpaiguri Municipality will miss its December deadline to provide piped drinking water to every household under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) project, as the work remains unfinished.

Municipal officials have reassured residents that the water supply will begin in early January. The Chief Engineer's office of the Municipal Engineering Department (North Bengal) has instructed the Executive Engineer to complete all pending tasks by December. In the first phase, treated water from the Teesta River will be supplied to about 19,000 households. The Chief Minister had inaugurated the water lifting process before Durga Puja, with the water routed through an infiltrator gallery to the treatment plant. Jalpaiguri’s current water system relies heavily on groundwater, but declining levels have forced the municipality to shut several reservoirs.

The Rs 350-crore AMRUT project aims to address these issues, providing up to 22 million litres of treated water daily. Chairman Saikat Chatterjee emphasised the municipality's responsibility to provide safe drinking water.