Taking cognizance of the paucity of rains resulting in drought-like conditions with the onset of summer, Chief Secretary Shatrughan Singh has instructed all district administration officials to make special arrangements to ensure supply of adequate water in their jurisdictional limits.
As per an estimate made by Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, 50 projects in urban areas and 408 projects in the rural areas would grapple with water scarcity in the coming days. In case things turn so the people from 1,233 villages aside from the urban areas would be affected.
As per the data, over 10,000 water projects are being taken care of by the gram panchayats directly. The CS asked the officials to ensure that these run normally to spare the villagers the looming threat of water scarcity.
He instructed them to review such projects running in their jurisdictional areas. If any such problem exists or is likely to come up in future the officers should devise alternative plans to solve the water problem, he said.
He categorically asked the Jal Sansthan officials and district administration officials to make alternative arrangements to deal with the situation.
"By way of alternative arrangements, you should keep alive the peyjal projects, install or repair the hand pumps, if required. Water storage tanks should be taken care of too. Besides, you must keep ready generators to ensure power supply," the CS said. The DMs have been told to make sure availability of these facilities with immediate effect.
He further said that in view of the Char Dham and Hemkund Sahib pilgrimage set to start next month, the officers concerned must ensure availability of adequate water supply along the routes the pilgrims would move. He asked them to set up a control room to enable the pilgrims and others to lodge their complaints.