The PHE department here is going to tighten noose for the illegal water usage in the city- stating that raids will be carried out in the near future to put lid over this menace. Talking to KNS, chief engineer PHE, Muzzafar Ahmad Lanker stated that after the recent devastated floods, Kashmir valley and particularly the summer capital is facing serioius scarcity of the drinking water and that the department has kept in place all the machinery to stop at an earliest the growing illegal usage of water in various areas of Srinagar. “There are hundreds and thousands of water boosters being used in various homes of the Srinagar city to which water shortage in other areas is seriously being reported. The department is acting on war footing grounds to stop these crises,” he said.
The chief engineer PHE maintained further that 31 water mortars have already been sealed in Srinagar on first day and that the department is going to take tough measures against the households involved in such violation.He remarked further that the water supplies that were affected in various areas of valley due to recent floods have been largely restored and PHE men are working to make possible to supply safe waters to the remaining areas.Lanker maintained that to provide water in the areas wherein the supplies have so far not been restored, 90 water tankers have been pressed into service. “Out of these 90, 70 are privately hired by the department to end the water scarcity in the flood torn valley.”
Public Health Engineering Department (PHE) has suffered from the loss of more than Rs 180 crores with 530 water supply schemes affected across Jammu and Kashmir during the recent catastrophic floods.The worst hit floods that devastated Jammu and Kashmir on the first week of September affected the water supplies to major portion of valley, making people to suffer at large in the midst of grave crisis.
PHE alone has suffered a loss of Rs 180 crores with 530 water supply schemes and more than 100 lift stations damaged. Around 50 filtration plants – supplying safe drinking water to the valeyites has also been damaged due to the recent catastrophic floods. (KNS)