Nurpur: After a year of effort, Jal Shakti finally taps rock cliff water source

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, May 31

After a year of unsuccessful attempts to tap a rock cliff water source in the Jawali Assembly constituency, the Jal Shakti Department (JSD) has finally succeeded in supplying water from the source to the existing water supply scheme.

The authorities of the JSD in the Jawali Assembly constituency of Kangra district had noticed a rock cliff waterfall at Anuhi village last year.

After noticing water flowing from different points of the rock cliff similar to rain showers, JSD officials started working on a scheme to tap the perennial natural source of water, the potential of which had been wasted for several decades.

Under the direction of local MLA and Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar, the department planned to tap the flowing water of the rock cliff and augment the existing water supply scheme to provide adequate piped water to the residents of Jangal, Kuther and Vahi-Pathiar gram panchayats of Jawali.

Enquiries revealed that the rock cliff water source discharged 10,000 litres of water per hour, and had gone unnoticed by the JSD thus far.

Residents of surrounding gram panchayats have also demanded that the department identify such natural water sources in their areas and tap their water to be supplied to scarcity-hit areas.

Talking to The Tribune, JSD Executive Engineer (Jawali) Ajay Sharma said: “The department had raised a 6-metre-long and 2.25-metre-broad concrete wall and developed a storage system to tap the flowing cliff water, which had been going waste for a long time.”

A roof made of corrugated iron sheets was laid to tap water falling from different points and the accumulated water was shifted to the ground tank of the existing water supply scheme of the beneficiary gram panchayats, he added.

He said the tapped water was being supplied to the beneficiary gram panchayats for over a month now.

Discharges 10,000L/hr

• The authorities of the Jal Shakti Department (JSD) in the Jawali Assembly constituency of Kangra district had noticed a rock cliff waterfall at Anuhi village in Jawali last year.
• After spotting water flowing from different points of the rock cliff, JSD officials started working on a scheme to tap the perennial natural source of water, the potential of which had been wasted for several decades.
• Enquiries revealed that the rock cliff water source discharged 10,000 litres of water per hour, and had gone unnoticed by the JSD thus far.
• The tapped water is being supplied to the beneficiary gram panchayats for over a month now.