Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul held a meeting at the Secretariat on Thursday with officials of the potable water department and reviewed the status of potable water availablility in the State.
He gave directions that availability of drinking water be ensured. It was an important responsibility of the Government to provide potable water to people, he added. He said that areas where there was scarcity of drinking water in previous years should be identified and earmarked so that attention could be given to them on a priority basis.
The Governor told Secretary (potable water) RK Sudhanshu that he should be in constant touch with DMs and monitor the situation. There should be no lack of funds in providing potable water to the public. He said tankers and other alternative methods needed to reach water to places should be soon ensured.
The Governor also held a meeting with senior officers of the forest department keeping in view the loss of precious forest wealth due to forest fires in the summers. There were detailed deliberations on ways and means to check and control forest fires.
The Governor stressed the need for bringing of awareness regarding the damage done to forest wealth due to the fires. local people, villagers and school children need to be involved in this awareness campaign in order to get positive results.
He said that widespread publicity was needed and peoples’ participation would ensure that the loss of forests was minimised. He also said that the forest officials must strengthen their communication network and ensure that they have the necessary equipment and resources to put out the fires.
He said the system should be so strong that the information of a forest fire could be obtained immediately. Present at the meeting were PCCF RK Mahajan, additional secretary (forests) Meenakshi Joshi and secretary to the Governor, Anand Vardhan.