Water tankers for Kasauli hotels, locals in lurch

Ambika Sharma

Solan, May 27

Even water tankers are not available to villagers living around Kasauli, who continue to reel under an acute water shortage. Hoteliers have managed “corner” most of the water tankers to meet needs of their hospitality units.

Residents have received barely 50 per cent water supply after four to five days in Sanawar, Garkhal, Jabli, Sanwara and Shiller villages.

Efforts to arrange water through tankers failed to yield results as the water tankers were busy catering to the local hotel industry comprising 250-odd hospitality units.

Some of these tankers lifted water from the vicinity of potable water schemes, which affected water quantity in these schemes. While the local administration has been apprised of the situation, no steps have been taken to address the issue. The administration is yet to put a ban on construction activities the Kasauli Planning Area, where nearly 50 new hotels are coming up.

“We are using disposables utensils at home to conserve whatever little water supply we are getting from the Jal Shakti Department (JSD),” said Dheeraj, a resident of Sanawar. People are spending hundreds of rupees daily on buying bottled water for drinking. “As the water supply received after four to five days is barely adequate for washing and bathing purposes, we are buying bottled water for drinking for the past one week,” said Meena, a resident of Garkhal.

Efforts to avail services of water tanker failed to materialise as the they were busy catering to the hotels, she added. A senior vice president of a hotel near Kasauli said, “We are buying at least three tankers daily at the rate of 40 paise per litre to meet our requirement. We have to order in advance to get a tanker as there is a long queue.”

As many as 351 rural habitations in Solan division were affected by the prevailing “drought” wherein 52 water supply schemes had been hit as water quantity had been reduced. Residents of Taksal village near Parwanoo, meanwhile, have decided to boycott the ensuing Lok Sabha election over the non-supply of water for 15 days.

Led by Nisha Sharma, ward member of Parwanoo Municipal Council, a large number of women gathered at Eicher gate to protest against the local administration.

They raised slogans like “no vote no support” and slammed the district administration, Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri, CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as well as the Taksal panchayat pradhan and up-pradhan for their apathy. They threatened to block road if their problem was not resolved soon.

SDO, Jal Shakti Department, Parwanoo, Bhanu, told the protesters that problems like low voltage and snag in machinery had been rectified and there would be some respite to the villagers soon. “Efforts to dig a 5-inch borewell along the highway have been stalled by the NHAI, giving a setback to our efforts of getting water,” he added.