Court summons MC top officers

Vijay Arora

Shimla, May 28

Taking a serious note on the issue of water scarcity, the HP High Court on Monday summoned the Municipal Commissioner and Municipal Engineer of Shimla Municipal Corporation for Tuesday.

The lawyers of the Bar Association raised the issue before a Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel. After deliberating on the issue, the court has also expressed its concern and sought response from the state and the MC .

During the course of hearing, Advocate General Ashok Sharma said the highest authority was already seized of the matter and appropriate steps were being taken for the immediate redress of the problem.

The Bench observed that a “long-term solution to the problem can be found with the construction of check dams and reservoirs where water can be stored for longer period and utilised at the time of scarcity, more so, during summer months.”

While expressing concern on this issue, the court further observed that the problem of water scarcity within Shimla town, as highlighted, takes us to yet another issue that whether any new construction should be allowed to come up within the MC limits at all or not. It further observed that “whether the present holding capacity is sufficient enough to cater to the ever-growing urban population, an issue which certainly needs to be addressed.”

In its earlier order, the court had observed that “The state is blessed with many perennial rivers such as the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chinav, the Pabar, the Chander and the Bhaga. It cannot be said that per se, there is paucity of water in the state. However, perhaps, paucity of will, to provide adequate potable water to the residents of the State, is there as far as administration is concerned. Otherwise, in our considered view, there can be no cogent justification as to why till date 50 per cent of the habitations in the state of Himachal Pradesh are not fully covered for the purposes of providing adequate potable water to the residents.”