The authorities in Shimla have devised a three-pronged strategy to prevent future acute drinking water shortage in the city which is presently reeling under such a crisis.
Both the Himachal Pradesh government and the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) have swung into action after facing severe criticism following a major exodus of tourists from the hilly town which had a major financial impact on its revenue share.
After facing the rebuke from the Himachal Pradesh High Court, the state government deployed its Chief Secretary Vineet Chaudhary to personally supervise the situation and augment the drinking water supply to the town.
"Due to persistent efforts, we have managed to restore the drinking water supply for the past three days. We have divided 34 wards of the town into three zones and water is being now supplied alternatively to each zones," Chaudhary told PTI over the phone from Shimla.
He said as on today, all tanks supplying water to Shimla are full and have 37 MLDs (millions of litres per day) of water in storage.
"We have devised a three-pronged strategy -- short term, medium term and long term -- to deal with the situation in the future. The water crisis in Shimla is not something new. It has happened in the past also because there is no permanent source of water," the top official of the state, who is heading a high-level committee of officers from various departments to deal with the issue, said.
He said that a long term permanent solution would be there once over Rs 800 crore Kol Dam lift drinking water scheme comes into existence, which would supply 104 MLD of water to the capital city.
"Our DIPR is ready for the project and are awaiting sanction from the World Bank which is likely to be done by next year," Chaudhary said.
He said that for the medium term in the catchment areas at the Gumma and the Giri river schemes in Shimla district the state would encourage water harvesting structures and a plan has been worked out in this regard.
"There was an issue of contamination of water in 2005 in the Ashwini Khad, which was one of the regular sources of around five MLDs of water to Shimla. Under the medium term plan, we have decided to install an Ultra Violet water treatment plant so that the water becomes consumable in Shimla," he added.
Detailing the short term plans to deal with the aggravated water crisis, Chaudhary said that three wards in Shimla city will be selected under the pilot project and a new
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