Dry spell leads to drinking water shortage in Palampur

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, January 15

The prolonged dry spell has started affecting dozens of drinking water schemes, which get supply from the Neugal and Baner rivers in Palampur and Sullah constituencies of Kangra district. There was a deficit of at least 40 to 50 per cent in most of the water supply schemes. The Drang, Ghaneta, Rajhoon and Dhoran areas are the worst hit where the Irrigation and Public Health Department has already resorted to rationing of drinking water supply.

Curb illegal mining: Expert

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• JC Katoch, Engineer-in-Chief (retired), who is also an environmentalist, says continuous illegal mining in the Neugal river near Saurabh Van Vihar has made the matter worse
• The mining mafia has dug deep trenches in the river. Therefore, the water level in the river has gone down, affecting drinking water supply schemes of lower areas
• If the government wants to save these rivers, it should immediately stop illegal mining first and also cancel the mining lease granted to some influential persons

Sarwan Thakur, Executive Engineer, IPH Division, Thural, said the water level in the Baner river, which meets drinking water requirements of dozens of villages of the Sullah constituency, had dipped drastically in the absence of rain and snowfall in Dhauladhar hills in the past four months.

He said the IPH Department was making earnest efforts to provide water in every village at least on the third day for three to four hours. If it did not rain, the situation could be grim.

Thakur said at present, the top priority of the IPH Department was to keep all water supply schemes operational. He appealed to the people not to waste the water and stop irrigating kitchen gardens and washing vehicles with tap water. He said several lift irrigation schemes in the areas were water deficeient.

Anil Verma, Executive Engineer, IPH, Palampur division, said there was about 20 to 30 per cent deficit in the water supply schemes getting water from Awa Khud in Kandwari and Sparu areas of the Palampur constituency. However, the dry spell hasn’t affected the bigger schemes feeding Palampur town and its satellite areas but the situation could be grim if rain continues to be elusive. “If it doesn’t rain soon, these schemes, too, will be affected, especially in the areas fed by the Neugal river, which is called the lifeline of Palampur,” he added.