Solan residents complain of water shortage, Department denies

Ambika Sharma

Solan, July 29

The Jal Shakti Department has refuted the claims of local residents that there is a shortage of water in the city and they are getting supply after days.

The city’s water requirement is pegged at 80 lakh litres per day. The department supplies water while the local Municipal Corporation distributes it. The duo are often at loggerheads because of water wastage from leaking pipes, which is estimated to be as high as 40 per cent.

Heavy rain had led to accumulation of heavy silt in two water supply schemes on the Ashwani khad and the Giri river and as a result less water was lifted. Though the Jal Shakti Department staff assert that water supply was suspended barely for two days owing to heavy silt in the two schemes during the past three weeks, city residents lament that they have seen no supply for several days at a stretch.

Vishal, a resident of Rabon area, said that water supply had become highly erratic and at times, they got no water for three to four days. Similar views were expressed by residents of Khaleen and Upper Bazaar areas. They rued that they had been forced to purchase water through tankers as there was no supply for days together.

The residents of the Mall Road area got water supply after seven days, lamented Mukesh Gupta, a BJP leader.

He said, “Internal bickering in the Solan Municipal Corporation is responsible for the mess. There is a distribution problem and the city residents are suffering.”

The department supplies water directly to 60 per cent of the civic body areas comprising merged areas like Rabon, Basal, Chambaghat, etc. while the MC distributes water in the remaining 40 per cent areas.

“As much as 92.20 lakh litres of water was supplied from the Giri and Ashwani khad water supply schemes on Saturday,” said a JSD official. Yesterday, 82.60 lakh litres of water was supplied —- 56 lakh litres from the Giri and 26.60 lakh litres from the Ashwani khad. On Wednesday, too, 103.90 lakh litres of water was supplied from both schemes.