Rs 102-cr Giri water supply scheme for Kasauli area hangs fire as depts locked in dispute

Ambika Sharma

Solan, July 21

The completion of a Rs 102-crore ambitious Giri water supply scheme for the Kasauli area has been stuck for the past six months as the work to lay pipes on a 1,500-metre stretch of the Garkhal-Kasauli road could not be accomplished due to a dispute between two departments.

The Jal Shakti Department (JSD), which is executing the scheme, and the Public Works Department (PWD), which is responsible for laying and maintaining the roads, are the two departments in question.

According to the PWD officials, the JSD has been directed to undertake manual excavation to lay pipes on the 1,500-metre stretch. Since the laying of bulky pipes of 12-inch diameter requires a large-scale excavation of the road, the PWD staff have expressed reservations, saying the tiled road will be damaged if machines are used for the work.

“With houses situated on both sides of the road, manual excavation is the only way to lay large pipes on the hillside. The JSD staff has also been directed to deposit the requisite amount for the damage caused to the road before undertaking the excavation work,” said Gurvinder Singh Rana, Executive Engineer, PWD, Kasauli.

The JSD staff, however, plead that manual excavation was not feasible on that particular stretch and they should be permitted to excavate the road mechanically to lay pipes as had been done on the remaining portion of the road.

They added that a sum of over Rs 1 crore has been deposited for undertaking digging work on a portion of the road previously and more funds would be deposited as per the requirement.

With the two departments failing to reach a common ground, the completion of the scheme is being delayed. Other works like construction of water tanks have been completed and work to provide electricity at the water source at Giri is underway.

The scheme has been funded by the Jal Jiwan Mission (JJM) and the National Bank for Agriculture Development (NABARD). An amount of Rs 56 crore has been provided by the JJM and Rs 46 crore by NABARD.

The triple-stage scheme would lift water from Giri river in Sirmaur district. As many as 179 habitations of Kasauli Assembly segment, with a population of 45,458, will benefit from the scheme, which will supply 7.5 million litres of water per day.

Residents are eagerly awaiting the commissioning of the scheme as they have been facing water scarcity this summer.

Besides buying bottled water for drinking, the residents had to spend on tankers as natural sources catering to the water supply schemes had also dried up.