Lessons learnt; admn, SMC to oversee water, power supply

Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 13

After learning bitter lessons from the 2016-17 heavy snowfall, the district administration and the Shimla MC (SMC) today worked together and put a system in place for monitoring the restoration of water and electricity supply and movement on roads here.

The real test for the team would come when it snows this winter. So far, the district administration and SMC has acted in coordination sharing information on water, electricity and roads here.The SMC sounded an alert for residents in the city to stock enough water for their needs and avoid releasing of sewage from the septic tanks into the khuds or streams mainly in the peripheries where there were no sewerage lines.

DC Rohan Chand Thakur said the water and electricity supplies remained normal in the city for the last two days. The city has water availability of 41.91 MLD from different water sources. Most of the roads and electricity supplies in the district have been restored today, he added.

But the water availability from different sources was normal (41.91 MLD) after the two days of rain here, revealed data from the greater Shimla water and sewerage circle of the SMC.

Last winter, heavy snowfall had plunged the city into darkness. The residents, patients, tourists had faced harrowing time without water and electricity for many days.

The district administration, SMC and water and electricity board this time have put in an organised system to monitor and meet out any emergency situation in the city and even the district as a whole.

The machines have been deployed to clear the snow while the hospitals claimed they had enough standby arrangements for heating and electricity.

Shimla Mayor Kusum Sadret urged the residents to store water. “House owners should not release septic tanks into the water streams during the rain, she added.