Meen Charakan, June 5
This village, situated 22 km from Jammu, has become the voice of water-starved residents.

On May 20, its residents, seeking an end to the acute water crisis, had held hostage a group of Public Health and Engineering (PHE) Department officials.

The PHE authorities claimed that they had pressed into service four water tankers to meet the contingency till normal supply was restored.

However, it was found that only one PHE tanker had ferried water twice on May 20, and since then no tanker was ever seen in the village.

“After the village, comprising over 100 families, did not get even a single drop of water continuously for 20 days in May, we held hostage an assistant executive engineer Manoj Bhardwaj and two JEs Sham Lal and Tariq Hussain,” said 64-year-old Puran Singh.

A lone handpump is the lifeline of the villagers here. “With two of the three handpumps out of order, the entire village relies upon one handpump for meeting its water demands. The supply through PHE pipe comes every third day,” said Vijay Singh, an employee of the State Road Transport Corporation.

With anger writ large on her face, Purni Devi, an elderly woman, cursed the day when her parents married her to a man of this village.

“Since my marriage 35 years ago, this problem continued to haunt us. Perhaps, it is a cursed village because despite being situated very close to the winter capital, drinking water remains a luxury here,” she said.

Another villager, Satpal (70) vent his anger on the political leadership.”The sitting MLA from the Vijaypur constituency, Surjeet Singh Salathia, who holds the portfolio of Industries and Commerce, Labour and Employment in the Omar Abdullah cabinet, has handed over a raw deal to this village”.

Before the Assembly elections, Salathia had come to the village and promised to install a tubewell, but after becoming a minister, he and his tubewell vanished into thin air, he added.

In the twilight of his life, 90-year-old Ravi Singh Charak attributed the nagging problem to government apathy, particularly of the PHE department.

“Why the PHE’s motor at the Barjani station develops a technical snag every day and why don’t they find a permanent solution to this problem,” he asked while hinting at malpractices within the PHE department.

“Though the PHE had laid an overground pipeline in the village, it lies broken for the past two years and none had bothered to repair it,” said another villager, Koushalaya Devi.

To a query, a village youth, Parveen Singh responded, “In a village where we don’t get sufficient drinking water, thinking of irrigational water would be like living in a fool’s paradise. Agriculture has taken a severe beating because we have no option than to rely upon rain”.

Jammu, June 5
The rich and the affluent use more water, pay less and yet receive better services from the government agencies. That is the impression one gathers after a quick and random survey here of three types of households - the affluent, the middle class and the poor. Not surprisingly, the poor seems to receive the raw deal, suffer harassments, spend long hours in collecting water and pay a disproportionate amount of their income for the luxury of having water or they simply give up chores like bathing.

Water supply is reasonably good in the posh areas, erratic in middle class localities and pathetic in the settlements of the poor. Even where there are taps in the poorer localities, they generally remain dry. Luckier ones get tap water once or twice in a week. As for the slums, there could be one tap for 100 families, turning the daily chore of collecting water into a nightmare.

Moti Lal Gupta, a businessman, who lives in Trikuta Nagar, said, “We use 3,000 litres of water everyday or 90,000 litres a month. We have double-storeyed house on the plinth area of 500 sq yards with a garden.”

He said, “My family comprises six members. In a day, we use water for the garden, washing two cars, cleaning the house, washing clothes, in the kitchen and in the loo...”

“We have a large underground reservoir. Water pipe connection is directly linked with the reservoir and fresh water is directly supplied into it. The reservoir gets filled after three days. We have a water tank with a capacity of 1,000 litres. Water is pumped thrice a day to fill the tank,” informs Neelam Gupta. Satisfied with the water supply, she says the PHE Department supplies water twice a day for long hours. And it is enough to fill the underground reservoir and the tank.

In sharp contrast, Rainas occupy a house in the Muthi area with a plinth area of 125 yards. The house does not have a garden but does boasts of at least 12 flower pots. The Raina household also has six members but admits to using 2,000-2,500 litres of water everyday.

“Besides potable water, we require water for maintaining hygiene in our house. We use water for cleaning clothes and utensils. For having bath, we have to wake up early in the morning at 4 am. Water comes hardly for one hour for which we have to pay Rs 360 as water tax annually,” says Sanjay Raina.

But, the supply is not adequate and the family purchases water from private carriers, who are paid Rs 600 every month. In other words, while the private carriers collect Rs 7,200 every year from Raina, the police constable pays just Rs 360 to the government.

The situation is even more dismal in the Shashtri Nagar slums. There is an overhead water tank set up by the department at a distance of 300 metres. Every household is allowed to collect drinking water once a day.

Shakuntala said, “We collect four buckets of water from the overhead water tank daily, out of which one bucket of water invariably spills out as we fetch it from a distance.” A canal running along the road at a distance of around 1km from this area is used for bathing and cleaning of clothes and utensils.

Barring a few 25-litre buckets, there is no reservoir to store water for daily use. On an average, slum families comprising six to eight members store a couple of buckets of water for drinking only.

They have no toilets and use open space for natures call. Shakuntala said, “My family comprises six members and everyday all of us wake up at 4 am to fetch potable water from the tank. My children fetch water in 5-litre containers, for which we have to wait in a queue for at least one hour.”

The business of packaged mineral water is picking up in the view of scorching summer. From multinational companies to local ones, there are more than six players in the market that have been making a quick buck. Tourists as well as locals prefer packaged water to that supplied by the government.

Among the big brands are Aquafina of Pepsi group, Bislery of Parley, Kinley of Coca Cola and Tata’s Himalaya. Similarly, local brands are Fit-n-Fine, Trish, Rail Neer, etc.

Though the brands may differ, what is common among all of them is that their packaging is local. Bottles are being filled at places like Bari-Brahmna, Gangyal, Gura and Bakshi Nagar.

“At least eight lakh cases are sold in a year across the state. A case possesses 24 bottles. While the companies have started marketing bottles in different sizes, one- litre pack is considered the standard pack and nearly 90 per cent of the bottles are being sold in this package,” he said.

Besides this, 20-litre containers are also in huge demand these days amongst households, hotels and offices. Whereas branded companies have been selling per gallon for Rs 60-80, the local companies have been charging Rs 40-50. — TNS

Cashing in on the shortage of water, owners of private water tankers are having a flourishing business these days. They pay Rs 100 to the PHE department for filling each tanker from its tubewell. They sell it for Rs 600 in the urban and Rs 700 in the rural areas.

Interestingly, the department has to pay Rs 425 per tanker if it requires the services of the private tankers due to the shortage of the government tankers. “We pay Rs 30 to 50 to a private pump if the water is not available at a PHE tubewell,” said Tajender Singh, in charge, Private Tankers Association. “Our charges include fuel consumption, workers fees, cost of tankers and other maintenance expenses,” he said. — TNS

Jammu, June 5
The public health engineering (PHE) department, which is being blamed for water shortage, claims it is in the process of providing a major relief to the public in the near future.

PHE chief engineer VK Abrol has claimed that the shortfall of 7 million gallon per day (MGD) is likely to be met shortly by virtue of a new filtration plant with a capacity of 5.4 MGD being constructed by the Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) in Nagrota. The plant is likely to be commissioned by the end of the month.

“The government is going for perspective planning till 2023 in the first phase, when the projected population of Greater Jammu would be around 14 lakh and then for 2038, when the projected population would be around 19.70 lakh,” he says.

Greater Jammu has been divided into seven zones, out of which zones 1 to 5 are on the right bank of the Tawi and comprise old city and its extensions, while the new city, situated on the left bank of the Tawi, comprises zones 6 and 7.

At present, Greater Jammu requires 37 MGD of drinking water against the availability of 30 MGD, thus a shortfall of 7 MGD. Abrol says the irregular power supply has been aggravating the problem. “Though the power development department (PDD) has been doing everything possible to provide uninterrupted power supply, if we really get unhindered electricity, we can meet the water requirement from the existing water resources,” Abrol claims.

Further, the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) has been constructing 50 tubewells out of which 20 have already been commissioned while 10 others are under the process of being commissioned, he adds.

The average discharge of a tubewell ranges between 12,000 gallons and 13,000 gallons per hour depending upon the availability of underground water. He, however, feels the need to replace old and worn-out pipes in Jammu city, maintaining that the work has already been initiated by ERA in a phased manner at a cost of around Rs 150 crore.

Since the demand is increasing day by day, the PHE has formulated a detailed project report (DPR), envisaging the construction of 95 more tubewells in Greater Jammu so as to meet the requirement up to 2023, he says.

The state’s steering committee has already submitted the project report to the union government and we expect the sanction soon, he adds.

Under this project, 95 tubewells would be set up in Greater Jammu in the first phase and in the second phase, for which separate funds would be sanctioned, water from the Chenab would be brought to Jammu or 175 additional tubewells would be constructed, Abrol informs.

Similarly, works to augment supply in 30 towns of the Jammu province have been going on whereas Kathua, Samba, Doda, Bhaderwah, Udhampur and Sunderbani towns have been brought under the ambit of the urban infrastructure development scheme for small and medium towns.

Jammu, June 5
The newly constructed out patient department (OPD) block of Gandhi Nagar Hospital has been waiting for a VIP to formally inaugurate and throw open its doors to the public.

The project, which has been completed with an expenditure of Rs 9.41 crore, could not be formally inaugurated last year due to the Amarnath land row, followed by the collapse of the coalition government giving way to the Governor’s rule, and the subsequent imposition of the model code of conduct in the wake of state Assembly and parliamentary elections.

Since now everything is over, people have been looking forward to the new government to shift its focus on the hospital.

The question as to why the opening is being delayed remains unanswered as the authorities refrain from saying anything over the entire issue. The OPD block was constructed during the regime of the Azad-led coalition government under fast-track infrastructure development.

The construction work started in January 2007 and was completed in May 2008.

However, sources maintain that the acute shortage of medical and paramedical staff has also been causing hindrance in the start of new OPD.

They say the hospital is already working with almost half of the total sanctioned staff.

A plate reading its inauguration by the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in July 2008, is still very much there.

“We were expecting that the makeover of the district hospital will give some respite to patients. But it is unfortunate that the imposing structure stands locked,” the sources add.

“The old block is over crowded due to the burgeoning load of patients and doctors are also a seething lot. If the new OPD block is made operational, it will enable us to add several new facilities, departments and develop infrastructure,” the sources say.

As per the centrally sponsored health scheme, AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yog, Unani, Sidha and Homeopathic), every district hospital is supposed to spare some space for the functioning of this scheme.

But due to space constraints in the existing hospital, the scheme remains a casualty in the district hospital so far.

Jammu, June 5
The plying of private buses from the Jammu railway station has become a matter of concern for the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC).

The private buses pick up passengers directly from the railway station as soon as they arrive and take them to their respective destinations, which in most cases is Katra.

Sources disclose that most of these buses do not even have a permit and there is no check on their illegal functioning. In this entire scenario, the SRTC is suffering the most.

Jagdish Verma, traffic manager, SRTC, says, “Two buses of the SRTC have been allowed to ply from the railway station, but most of the passengers are picked up by private buses, as they are more in number. Besides, the buses of the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation, too, run from here, again without authorisation”.

“Former divisional commissioner had once questioned their legality, but it did not deter the corporation from plying its buses from the railway station. In the midst of all this, it is the SRTC which is incurring maximum losses, as instead of coming to the bus stand, the passengers directly reach Katra and vice-versa,” he adds.

The railway authorities, too, express their helplessness in the matter. Ashok Sharma, divisional traffic manager, says, “The private bus owners pick up passengers from here without paying any charges to the Railways. And when we tried to sort this matter, they took a stay from the High Court and the matter has been pending since then”.

Divisional commercial manager Dharmender Kumar insists that not more than four private buses are allowed in the premises, but the railway authorities have no control if they are operating outside the premises.

Jammu, June 5
Residents of various localities in the Jammu region who are reeling under continuous and unscheduled power cuts have now started holding protests.

Though the Power Development Department (PDD) has assured that the areas where tamper-proof electronic meters have been installed would get round-the-clock electricity supply, the residents in such areas say they, too, have to face the unscheduled power cuts.

Jammu and Kashmir has always been a power-starving state which has to import electricity from the northern grid to meet the increasing demand and due to the poor distribution system, the state is facing distribution losses of more than 60 per cent as compared to the national average of less than 20 per cent.

Officers in the department say to meet the daily requirement, they have to resort to the unscheduled power cuts on a rotational basis.However, the residents allege that everyday they are subjected to these cuts.

“The power cuts have become a major problem for us. Mostly, the power cuts are imposed during night when we are getting ready to have our dinner or when we are asleep,” said Vikram Mehra, a resident of the Digiana Pully locality.

The people of these localities are so irked that they have started holding protests against the PDD authorities.

The residents alleged that the power cuts in their localities were imposed to meet the supplies of the posh areas where the PDD officers were getting a hefty amount from the residents.

The officers of the department say there is a huge gap between the production and the consumption of power in the state and to meet the deficiency they have to impose the power cuts.

“The total production of electricity in the state is between 1,300 MW and 1,400 MW, whereas the total requirement of the state is around 1,800 MW,” Ajay Gupta, chief engineer, maintenance and repairs, PDD, said.

He said the department was meeting the requirement by curtailing around 40 per cent of the power supply to the different areas of the state.

The power consumption of the Kashmir valley as compared to the Jammu region is also higher.While Jammu gets only 500 MW of the total production , the rest goes to the Kashmir valley.

“Daily requirement keeps on fluctuating. During the summer season, electricity requirement in Jammu is 800 MW.However, due to the deficiency of power, we are able to supply only 500 MW,” Gupta said.

He said the people need to understand the situation of the department and should cooperate with them instead of holding them responsible for the power cuts.

It’s about one month since a footpath was dug up to further widen the main road at the Regal Chowk, one of the old and posh markets of Srinagar. So far, the reconstruction work with the proposed modifications has not been started on the dug out portion of the footpath near Regal Cinema.

The place usually remains busy with shoppers and the traffic on the main road leading to the Lal Chowk. Minibuses coming to the Lal Chowk from various places in the city also run through this place, which is in the vicinity of four premier educational institutions - SP College, Women’s College, SP School and the College of Education, MA Road. All this leads to a heavy rush of commuters, mostly students, during the peak hours. The dug-up footpath has further narrowed down the space for pedestrians. The authorities should take the mater on priority and get the unfinished work completed without further delay for the convenience of the public.

Gulzar Ahmad, Srinagar

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