Solan Water Crisis Worsens
The drinking water crisis in and around Solan has worsened in the past week, with residents reporting that they have not received water for days. The crisis is due to a lack of coordination between the Solan Municipal Corporation and the Jal Shakti department, as well as an increase in silt levels in the river water.
The Municipal Corporation has been unable to provide adequate water to residents, despite the fact that they have been promised adequate water supply by the ruling Congress party. The unannounced suspension and rationing of water supply has caused great hardship to residents, especially women, the elderly, and the disabled.
The local administration has also failed to provide any relief to residents, and has not made any alternate arrangements for supplying water through water tankers. Sources in the Municipal Corporation say that the crisis started when the Jal Shakti department suspended water lifting operations from the Giri and Ashwani water lifting schemes due to an increase in silt levels in the river water following light to moderate rains in the region. The crisis was further compounded when a water lifting motor burnt at the Giri water lifting schemes a few days ago, forcing the Jal Shakti department to suspend water lifting operations at its Giri and Ashwani river pumping stations.
The sudden increase in silt levels in the river water at both the pumping stations has led to a water crisis in several parts of the town. The Jal Shakti department was supplying potable water from the Giri lift water scheme to Solan and over 140 villages of Solan and Kasauli assembly segments.
Sitting councillor Shailnder Gupta has criticized the Municipal Corporation authorities for their failure to tide over the crisis. He said that the repeated unannounced suspension of drinking water supply shows that the present government is paying little attention towards people’s problems. He said that the concerned authorities instead of initiating needed corrective measures to provide regular water supply appeared to be more busy in misleading the higher officials concerning water supply situation in the town.
Echoing similar views, another councillor said that the Municipal Commissioner and concerned authorities should make alternate arrangements of potable water and inform the residents well in advance to avoid hardships as there are no natural sources of water in the town.
State general secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) Jagdish Bhardwaj said that residents of the Power house road area are getting drinking water supply on fifth day for the past couple of months. He said that despite making repeated requests to the concerned authorities, no effective measures are being taken to provide regular supply of water in the area.
Admitting the shortage, a Municipal Corporation official said that the Jal Shakti department supplied 14 lakh gallons of water on Thursday and eight lakh gallons on Friday against the demand of around 20 lakh gallons per day.
Jal Shakti department XEN Sumit Sood said that the problem aggravated following increase of mud particles in river water and further aggravated following burning of a water lifting pump. He said that water supply would be normalised within next 48 hours.
Municipal Commissioner Jafar Iqbal said that Jal Shakti officials supplied inadequate supply that lead to water problem in the town. He said that following rains this week, silt level forced Jal Shakti officials to curtail water supply. Iqbal said that to ensure the regular water supply, the augmentation of schemes needed to be carried out in future.
