Mehbooba promises potable water for all

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today emphasised sustained efforts to harness the state’s abundant water potential and committed to go the whole hog in providing safe potable drinking water to every household and assured irrigation to the farmers in the state.

To enforce accountability, she said the performance of the engineers would be linked with the success of the schemes they execute.

“The officers will be held responsible. We are lagging and need to immediately devise a mechanism to take forward all stranded projects,” the CM said.

She was speaking while reviewing the functioning of the Public Health Engineering and the Irrigation and Flood Control Departments here today.

While taking a firsthand appraisal of the water supply position, Mehbooba said there should be a well thought-out process before framing the modalities of new schemes, particularly relating to source depletion and long-term viability.

She urged the engineers to pick up the gauntlet and get into the nitty-gritty of the projects, adding the schemes do not fail due to fund constraint but primarily due to ill-conceived plans.

“Quick action plans and response teams have to be drawn up to meet any eventuality on account of water shortage,” the CM said, adding people, especially in rural belts, should not be subjected to any hardships.

The Chief Minister was informed that while there were constraints in Kathua and Samba districts in ensuring water supply, the situation in most of the districts in the region remained satisfactory.

In the Kashmir valley, the water supply position is adversely affected in Kupwara, Bandipora and Pulwama districts.