Himachal Pradesh capital which faced worst ever water crisis this year can hope for better summers next year as the state government has decided to supply extra 10 million litres of water per day within a year from Chaba village, which has water reservoirs in the state. The severe water shortage raised its head during peak tourist season and has already hit the hospitality sector here.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the state government was committed to find a permanent solution for the water crisis in Shimla town and a long term project was being formulated to cater to the drinking water needs of the people for five to six decades.
"As an immediate measure, extra 10 MLD of water would be supplied from Chaba village in less than a year," Thakur said.
He said that he recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and submitted a proposal for drinking water project for Shimla. It was on his request that the prime minister sent a team of Central Water Commission to the state.
Besides, the chief minister also told Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to sanction Rs 200 crore for water supply project for Shimla.
Thakur said that a water harvesting project with estimated cost of Rs 4,700 crore was also sent for approval to the Centre for Shimla town under which work would be done for augmentation of water resources to maintain the ground water level.
Besides, the state government would also explore the possibilities to expedite work on lifting water to Shimla from Koldam dam, he said.
The chief minister said, "the residents of Shimla town had to suffer for few days due to shortage of drinking water due to scanty rainfall and snow this winter. However, the state government handled the situation promptly and various arrangements were made to restore normal water supply on priority."
He said that Shimla had been facing this situation in the months of May and June for last many years but the previous government made no efforts to find some solution for this problem.
"It was unfortunate that few people tried to politicise this issue but they should remember that during the regime of the Congress government, Shimla faced water crisis even when more than 34 MLD water was available," he said.
He added that this year the crisis came up as less than 22 MLD water was available, but it was for the first time that such serious efforts were made to restore the normal water supply in a very short period of time.
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