Centre seeks info from Himachal's urban local bodies to improve water supply
Ambika Sharma
Solan, July 8
To augment water supply schemes, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has sought details of water saturation plans from all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the state. The fund-starved state government can avail of this opportunity to enhance water availability if it provides timely information in the requisite format.
Information like the number of households in 2021, their projected increase by 2025 and 2029 as well as households with piped tap connections and those without it has been sought. The Jal Shakti Department will provide information regarding available water sources like households having an alternative water source on their premises like wells, hand pumps as well as those using such community sources.
“The key issue of addressing the gap between the demand and supply by putting in place requisite infrastructure can be worked out once this information is available. It comprises information like storage facility, length of pipeline from the sources as well as state and Central funding, which has been sought from the Jal Shakti Department in each ULB. The department supplies water to all ULBs,” said Mandeep Gupta, Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti Department, Rajgarh in Sirmaur district.
In Solan, there are six ULBs comprising the Solan Municipal Corporation, municipal councils (MCs) of Parwanoo, Baddi and Nalagarh as well as nagar panchayats of Arki and Kandaghat. None of them have been covered under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), under which this project falls, till now.
Though Solan civic body did qualify the norms for AMRUT 2.0, it was yet to receive funding under this ambitious central government programme.
A ray of hope has been kindled among the ULBs to seek funds under this programme as the central government was gearing up to launch AMRUT 3.0.
There are 64 ULBs in the state from whom this information has been sought by the Central ministry.
Rajgarh is the lone ULB in the twin districts of Solan-Sirmaur where AMRUT 2.0 funding was available for augmenting water supply.
