Village with highest altitude polling station gets first tap water connection: Shekhawat

New Delhi, September 24

Tashigang, a tiny village at 15,256 feet above the sea level in Spiti Valley where villagers have to either melt snow to drink or fetch water using mules, has got its first tap connection under Jal Jeevan Mission, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said Thursday.

The Jal Shakti Minister said the village, about 10 km from the India-China border, remains cut-off from the rest of the world for six months due to harsh winters. It was a challenge to take tap water to such a height due to hostile geographical conditions in Tashigang and Chicham.

The village, however, has a polling station at the highest altitude in the world.

Shekhawat said in a statement that the Spiti block has a population of 31,564.

“The first tap connection (#FHTC) has been established at the highest elevation under the Jal Jeevan Mission in Tashigang village of #Himachal Pradesh, where the highest altitude polling station in the world is. Heartiest congratulations to the team of Himachal Pradesh for this achievement!” he tweeted.

The Jal Jeevan Mission envisages to take piped drinking water to every rural household by 2024. PTI