Despite Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s strict directions for providing the safe and potable drinking water to every household in the state, the Public Health engineering department has so far failed to provide proper and safe water to the thousands of villagers.Sources in the PHE department told KNS that the department is not meeting emerging challenges in the rural drinking water sector relating to availability, sustainability and quality. “There are thousands of rural habitations wherein one or more drinking water sources are contaminated and these areas are yet to be provided with safe drinking water,” they said. Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti in a recent high level meeting has issued strict direction to go whole hog in providing safe potable drinking water to every household in the state.She had said that the performance of the engineers will be linked with the success of schemes they execute. “The officers will be held responsible. We are lagging and need to immediately devise a mechanism to ensure that all the people are covered under safe drinking water,” she had said.
However sources maintained that over the years vital flagship scheme of the Government of India aimed at providing safe drinking water to rural population has been poorly implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. “Less than 50% have been achieved from central sponsored schemes. The States of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, MP, Orissa, Himachal and Tamil Nadu have exceeded their targets whereas Sikkim, Punjab, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir have reported low (less than 50%) achievement against the targets,” sources maintained.Experts said that water sources used by uncovered localities could be contaminated with chemicals.Pertinently, a number of studies have been conducted by non-governmental organizations in J&K revealing people were drinking contaminated with water and the count of Coliform bacteria was increasing in the water sources of valley.
A study by Integrated Disease Surveillance Unit (IDSU), Srinagar, had revealed that Coliform bacteria in tap water were increasing at an alarming pace. The researchers had used multiple tube method known as Most Probable Number (MPN) to check the percentage of the contaminants. “People in Kashmir are consuming contaminated water and are under severe threat of water-borne diseases as tap water contamination has gone beyond the permissible limits,” the study by the IDSU had revealed.“Viral hepatitis A and E are being reported frequently in the Valley. The incidence is generally more than one outbreak per month which is related to water contamination,” the study had said.Provision of safe drinking water in villages assumes greater significance as that is where majority of the population lives with poor infrastructure and sanitation facilities. (KNS)