To deal with the immediate water crisis in the State, separate teams have been formed at the block level to repair hand pumps having minor mechanical problems while fresh borings are being dug against those which have completely gone dead in the State. Drinking Water and Sanitation Department (DWSD) Minister Chandraprakash Chaudhary said that they intended to provide water supply through pipelines to at least 50 per cent of the population of the State by end of next year.
“Dysfunctional hand pumps, having minor mechanical problems in them, are being repaired by separate teams formed at the block level so that the people do not have to face crisis of water,” said the Minister. While, the hand pumps which have completely gone dead are being replaced with fresh ones by digging new tube wells near them, he added.
Referring to the problems of drinking water in plateau areas of the State, the Minister said that officials of the Department along with the district administration have been directed to take immediate steps as soon as they get information related to the problem of water crisis in any of the areas. Meanwhile, water is being provided to the people in some of the affected areas through hand pumps and deep borings, he said.
“Where there is permanent source of water near the dwellings, water is being provided to them through pipelines while where there is no permanent source of water near the settlements, water is made available to the people through deep borings attached with solar motors,” said Chaudhary.
The Minister further added that the department has been taking steps towards providing water supply to 30 per cent of the population through pipelines by the end of this year, which earlier happened to be only 22 per cent.
“We have fixed a target of providing water supply to at least 50 per cent of the population through pipelines by the end of next year,” said the Minister. He also added that all six districts of ‘Koylanchal’ to get water supply through pipelines by the year 2019.
“We are trying to provide water supply though pipelines to the entire population in six mining districts – Dhanbad, Ramgarh,Bokaro, Chaibasa, Godda and lohardaga of Jharkhand by the end of 2019 through District Mineral Fund. Other districts of the State however, will be funded through State funds, he added.
Situation in the State Capital however, is said to be stable having storage of at least three months in Gonda Dam and one year in Rukka Dam. Desilting of water reservoirs, according to officials, has helped a lot in increasing the water capacity of dams in Ranchi.
“Desiltation done in Gonda dam last year has definitely helped in increasing capacity of dams as the water level here has increased by at least 2-3 feet this year which will be sufficient for three months,” said DWSD Executive Engineer in charge of Gonda Division Tapeswar Chaudhary.Desiltation of Hatia Dam, however, was still under process where 2, 40000 mq of soil is to be removed.
“We have 17 feet water this time in Hatia Dam against 7-8 feet last year which is sufficient for the people here,” said PHED Executive Engineer Shashi Bhushan in charge of Hatia division. He however, said that water was being supplied four times a week in Hatia area as a precautionary measure looking at the water crisis last year.