Kashmir in acute shortage of drinking water – Indian Government must take action to win the heart of common people
Sudhir Chadda
Aug. 9, 2005

Kashmir valley especially Baramulla town is in deep drinking water shortage. The Indian Government must take urgent action to provide essentials of life and supporting infrastructure to win the heart of the common people.

According to media reports from Kashmir, District Baramulla as per the estimates of Public Health Engineering (PHE) require five million gallons of clean drinking water per day . Presently the town is being supplied three million gallons of water per day which is not sufficient to fulfill the demands of people living in the Baramulla town.

Most areas are still uncovered under the piped water supply scheme like Kanispora, Kanth Bagh, Gutyaar, Sangri,and some extensions of these peripheral colonies. These areas have not been fully covered by PHE and the people face acute water crisis.

Areas under piped water supply get almost two hours of water supply in the morning. However, people complain about water having pungent smell and containing dirt and grit. There are two filtration plants but if the complaints of inhabitants are to be taken into consideration, these plants are not sufficient to meet the needful. Nighat Geelani of Noor-Bagh colony Baramulla says: "We have two hours water supply in our area and it is very difficult to store it. The supply should be enhanced and should remain for more than 10 hours a day so that we can take fresh water for drinking purposes ".

Sopore town of district Baramulla has an estimated requirement of 4.5 million gallons of clean drinking water per day but the supply is only three million gallons per day. The town has two filtration plants at Shrakwara and Watlab, but the Shrakwara plant is non functional and only raw water is being supplied from it.

Krankshivan, Tuil Bal, Batpora , Wagun, Chinkipor, Warpora Nowpora are some areas Sopore town which are not fully covered under the piped water supply scheme. Public posts are not sufficient in both Baramulla and Sopore town which create problems for the people living in outskirts. Besides the pipelines are damaged at many places which not only lead to the wastage of water but also decrease its pressure to reach the far away areas.

If the health officials of Baramulla and Sopore are to be believed, most of the patients coming to hospitals, are having water borne diseases. Many areas face the epidemic in rainy days because the water supply to them is turbulent and is not fit for drinking. People in most of the areas of Baramulla use hand pump water even Boys Degree College Baramulla have no piped water supply and rely on some hand pumps. The water of these hand pumps contains abundant Sulpher, Iron and dirt which gives rise to the water borne diseases.

When contacted Chief Engineer PHE, A.K Wali said, "We are going to take a new scheme UMDS under which 135 liters of clean drinking water per capita per day will be given to the people of Baramulla and Sopore. This scheme will cover water supply, drainage and sanitation. The scheme has been sent to the government of India for approval and I hope that it will be started by the end of this year and it has to be completed in just three years."

Asked what are the alternate arrangements for water shortage in Baramulla and Sopore, Mr. Wali remarked, " We have some five water tankers which cater to the needs of vast area during water crisis and as such we do not face any water shortage."

MORE ARTICLES >>