SHIMLA:” Hum ko pani de do.” This is what children cry at ever passing vehicle near Ghiana village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh.
The drinking water situation is quite grim in the districts of Bilaspur and Hamirpur.
Women queue up on road heads wailing for tankers of the Public Health Engineering Department, sometimes from morning till evening, to fill a pail of water. They complain that at times their wait is futile.
In certain areas water is supplied on alternate days through tankers. Water sources have dried up and people are forced to fetch water from bacteria breeding “bawalis.” Women were not convinced with
Chief Minister Shanta Kumar’s promise of a tap in every kitchen. Pointing towards dry taps they demand that these should first trickle.
A water tap in Baroh village had been dry for three months Women fill their pitchers when a water tanker of the IPH comes to the village in the evening. But the tanker’s arrival is always uncertain,
At Patta village near Ghumar win a large number of women gathered on the road said they had to fetch water from a “bawali” about 2km away. At times they had to use water from a nearby “khud.”
Hand pumps are being installed by the government in a haphazard manner. Most of the pumps are installed outside villages as the heavy vehicle with the boring equipment cannot go off the main road. At many places pumps are out of use because of being in isolated places.
However, there are many claimants for these hand pumps. A group of women tried to stop boring of a tubewell at Patta village and demanded that a hand pump should first be installed in their nearby hamlet,
Most of the handpumps were” being installed in such villages as already have a water supply scheme.
The center has this time provided’ a sum of Rs 37 crores to the state government for water supply.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 10, 1994
