Hit hard by water scarcity, Shimla is facing a parched future.
Shimla, Aug 18 : Hit hard by water scarcity, Shimla is facing a parched future.
Over half of the town's residents are not receiving regular water supply, and some areas like New Shimla, Khalini, Summer Hill, Sanjauli and Chakkar are getting drinking water after six days.
The Shimla Municipal Corporation blames this on heavy rainfall, due to which regular water supply has got disrupted.
With water dispensing pumps at the Ashwani Khud blocked by excessive silt, certain areas have been without water for days.
"There was a lot of silt in the Ashwani Khud, due to which there has been no pumping of water. Pumping will begin again soon. We have in fact solved the water problem in most of the region," said Narendra Kataria, mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation.
People are being made to stand in long queues to get water through water tankers. Some walk long distances to get water. Most of the residents claim they are facing a chronic shortage of water, and add that their daily routine has been completely upset in the quest for water.
"We are not getting any water for the last one week, and people are getting late for office, children are getting late for school. Sometimes the water tanker comes, but most of the time we don't get water here," said Gopal Singh, a resident of Shimla.
Shimla has over 20,000 school children, and most of them are victims of this water crisis. Some of these children either miss school, or go to schools in dirty uniforms.
"For the past six or seven days, there has been no supply of water. We have to wait for water tankers. We have to be alert because we don't know when the tanker will come. It's a big problem," said Sumitra Kumari, a resident of Shimla.
Shimla's daily requirement of water is an estimated 35 million litres, but the town is presently getting only 22 million litres.
ANI