Centre okays water supply from Kol Dam to Shimla

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 28

Irrigation and Public Health Minister Mahender Singh on Tuesday assured the House that the state capital will not be plagued by water shortage as the Rs 1,000 crore Kol Dam project had been approved by the Centre.

Replying to the debate on water scarcity that plagued Shimla moved by Anirudh Singh under Rule 130 in the Vidhan Sabha, the minister said the town had to face water shortage because of the failure of the Congress regime to make arrangements to augment the water supply. “We are willing to apologize for failing to make arrangements but will the Congress seek apology for its failure to take necessary steps in the last five years,” he remarked.

The minister said the World Bank-funded Kol Dam project would provide 65 MLD water which is sufficient to meet the needs of the town till 2050.

“The situation aggravated primarily due to the drought but the CM personally monitored the situation,” he said. He denied that the Government had issued any advisory, urging tourists not to visit Himachal during this period.He informed that the first installment for the Kold Dam project would be received by December, this year and the CM too had made Rs 80 crore budgetary provision for the scheme which will meet the water needs of the state capital. “had Congress while in power made efforts then the project would have been ready by 2014 and the town would not faced this shortage,” he said hitting out at the Opposition. He said the department had now made alternate arrangements to lift water from Chaba and Gumma pumping station to meet the escalated demand of water for the state capital.

Moving the resolution, Anirudh said the scarcity had given a bad name to the town and the worst casualty was tourism. “Considering the acute shortage which was a result of mismanagement and utter failure of the Government, the tourists will now think twice before heading for Shimla,” he said.

Participating in the debate Vikramaditya Singh said the scarcity had resulted due to failure on the part of successive governments. He objected to the move of diverting water from Shimal (Rural) to meet the needs of Shimla city.

Rakesh Pathania said though Shimla has earned a bad name due to acute water shortage but even there had not been any major decline in tourist arrival in the town. Rakesh Singha demanded an inquiry into the construction of the drinking water supply scheme on Giri and action against the contractors.