More steps are yet to introduce by the State Government for providing potable water to small hamlets in the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions of Uttarakhand. Officials claimed that potable water supply that was disrupted after natural calamites that rocked the entire state, last year was repaired and shortage of potable water would easily overcomes, once all pending projects complete in the near future.
Despite tall promises made by the State potable water department that the no part of the State will face the shortage of potable water, the reality is something very different which has been claimed by the department.
The situation is equally worst in the mountainous and tough terrains of Uttarakhand as villagers are forced to traverse several kilometers to quench their thirst.
However, department officials claimed that no part of the state is facing the problem of acute shortage of potable water except those areas where potable water pipelines were burst in the last year.
Since construction and maintenance of the potable water pipelines are not up to the mark, the residents are forced to traverse several kilometers to access to potable water.
The water crisis in the region has deepened as traditional water sources that fulfill the maximum drinking water requirement of the region have gone dry.
Different towns in the tough hilly terrains of the state are also badly affected by the drying up of natural sources of drinking water as the population of these towns tends to depend on these because of the failure of Jal Sansthan schemes. Department sources revealed that non- working of hand-pumps and tube-well increases department worries many times.
He further told that more than 1800 small hamlets in the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions of Uttarakhand are without water and department is yet to introduce potent steps for redressing the problem of potable water.
One of the department sources told that couple of plans is in the pipeline for overcoming the shortage of potable water across the state.
He claimed that majority of the broken potable water pipelines is already repaired by the department for supplying potable water to the residents in the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions of Uttarakhand.