Rain, power woes cripple Solan, Kasauli

Erratic power supply coupled with relentless rainfall has severely disrupted civic amenities in Solan and Kasauli. In Solan, 80 mm of rain in just 24 hours led to heavy silt deposits in drinking water sources, hampering water lifting operations. Many residents were left with no option but to buy private water tankers at Rs 700 every alternate day. “This isn’t new — water becomes scarce every monsoon. The only silver lining is that the shortage now lasts seven days instead of the earlier 10,” said Rajan, a Solan resident.

Kasauli fared even worse, with 60 mm of rainfall in the past day halting water supply entirely. Villages like Dharampur, Sanawar, Garkhal and Shiller went without water for four straight days. The misery was compounded by full-day power outages, which have now become routine in the area.

Jal Shakti Department staff struggled to clear exceptionally muddy water using only basic alum treatment, making restoration unlikely in the near future. “With no power or clean water, the crisis could stretch for days,” lamented Deepak, a resident of Garkhal.

A lack of advanced purification systems and absence of power backup has left residents to fend for themselves in such emergencies.

The scale of the power crisis is alarming: 315 distribution transformers (DTRs) were knocked out across the district in recent days. Nalagarh was worst hit with 180 failures, followed by Solan (60), Arki (40) and Kasauli (35), according to the district disaster management agency. Damage from uprooted trees and snapped poles has further slowed repair work in the ongoing downpour.

Amid this chaos, the district administration held an all-day district grievance committee meeting in Solan, leaving no senior officers available to oversee field restoration efforts or respond to media queries. Though the meeting had been scheduled earlier, the urgency of the situation called for postponement or at least a shorter session — a call that, unfortunately, was never made.