Chief Engr orders long-term fix for Nurpur’s water woes

Taking cognisance of media reports on repeated piped water disruptions in Nurpur, Chief Engineer of the Jal Shakti Department (JSD), Dharamsala, Deepak Garg, rushed to the town yesterday where residents had been struggling without regular supply for nearly two weeks. Accompanied by the local Superintending Engineer and Executive Engineer, Garg inspected the landslide-hit terrain where the rising pipelines of the Chakki water supply scheme have been repeatedly damaged.

He also visited the gravity pipeline linked to the town’s overhead storage tank, which temporarily caters to residents through gravity-fed supply. Garg revealed that nearly 65 per cent of the main rising pipeline runs through landslide-prone stretches of Kopra gram panchayat, making it vulnerable during the monsoon.

After surveying the site with senior officials and field staff, the Chief Engineer directed the Nurpur XEN to prepare a long-term safety plan for the pipeline network. “The proposal must ensure that such prolonged supply failures are not repeated next monsoon,” he said.

To stabilise the situation, Garg instructed officials to streamline regular water supply in the urban area on priority. Once the monsoon recedes, the department will identify the most severely affected points and begin re-aligning and strengthening pipelines. He assured residents that the JSD would allocate adequate funds and materials for this task.

The intervention has raised hopes among Nurpur residents, who have faced acute hardships due to prolonged water shortages.