Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Lal Choudhary today informed the upper House that the government has installed Deep Machine Drilled Hand Pumps across the state to provide uninterrupted water supply to the people living in higher contours of Kashmir Valley, parts of Jammu and Ladakh during extreme winter season where the PHE pipe lines get blocked due to freezing.Replying to a question of legislator Saif-Ud-Din Bhat, the Minister informed that new pipe network has been laid deep enough to avoid freezing during winter.Giving details, the Minister informed that 2,576 deep drilled hand pumps have been installed in the state during the last three years. The government has also approved a Draught Plan to drill 20 high yield tube well/Production wells in water scarce areas, he added.Replying to a supplementary question related to taking legislators into consideration while distributing hand pumps, the Minister said the hand pumps are only installed in areas where PHE pipes are not installed.Meanwhile, Chairman Legislative Council, Haji Anayat Ali asked the concerned Minister to take the legislators into consideration while distributing the hand pumps for addressing the concern of the people relating to provision of safe drinking water to them.Legislators, Showkat Hussain Ganai and Pradeep Sharma also raised supplementary questions related to the main question.