For nearly 10 days now, there has been an acute water shortage in Shimla. On Thursday, almost a 100 protesters blocked the Shimla-Kalka national highway. Residents blame a “mindless construction overdrive” and tourism for their woes, but some experts say such shortages are an annual feature.
ThePrint asks- Waterless Shimla: A man-made crisis or a weather anomaly?
Water supply systems in Shimla were ruined by previous governments
Rakesh Sharma
BJP leader, deputy mayor, Shimla
The primary reason for the current crisis is the extraordinary weather that has led to this dry spell. Shimla gets water from the Giri, a snow- and rain-fed river. However, it does have sufficient water this time. The BJP took control of the municipal corporation a year ago. For 31 years, it was being run by the Congress or the CPM. The water supply systems have been severely damaged in these years and its impact is now being seen in the city.
In a single dry spell, the entire system has given way.
This is the legacy of these two parties, which we are now trying to undo. It was shocking to know that illegal feeder channels have been inserted in the main supply line to provide water to certain residences and commercial units. Once this crisis is over, we will have a full-fledged inquiry into this.
They ruined a major source of water – the Ashwani Khad – when they built an effluent treatment plant over it, despite the BJP raising objections. This led to the water getting contaminated, and almost every year Hepatitis outbreak would be reported. Finally, water intake from this source had to be closed.
Five-six years ago, when BJP’s Prem Kumar Dhumal was the chief minister, we proposed that Shimla gets additional water supply from the Kol Dam. The proposal was never acted upon by the Congress government from 2012-2017. The Congress councillors kept fighting among themselves and nothing materialised. Now, we have decided to get that scheme running on priority.
BJP mayor, her deputy clueless on how to get work done from officers
Harish Janartha
Congress leader, former deputy mayor, Shimla
The water crisis in Shimla is a completely man-made situation. The municipal corporation and the state government failed to see it coming. This is not the first year when the city’s catchment area has seen low rainfall. It has happened in the past too, but the impact of the problem has never been this severe on the public.
The crisis has escalated because the municipal corporation has, in the last one year, become a defunct body. The mayor and deputy mayor, both from the BJP, are clueless on how to get work done from officers. The BJP councillors are busy fighting among themselves. The corporation officers are not bothered about the elected body, which seems to be helpless.
Second, all the experienced officers, who knew the protocol to be followed in case of an impending water crisis, have been shunted out by the new elected body. The reasons are best known to them. So, when the crisis hit it, the corporation had no clue what to do.
The BJP government came to power, promising in its manifesto that Shimla will get 24-hour water supply. Even in this period of crisis, the corporation is saying that it is getting almost 20 MLD water while the demand is nearly 45 MLD. This means that every resident should get a day’s supply every third day, but that is not happening.
The ‘once-in-three-day supply’ rationing, which they claim to have done now – 10 days after the problem began – is a complete lie. People have not got water for 8-10 days. It is for no reason that women are on the streets protesting. So, where is the water going? My hunch is it is being sold to commercial units.
Reality has hit BJP hard, it now wants to privatise water supply
Tikender Panwar
CPM leader, former deputy mayor Shimla
The BJP, which won the municipal corporation elections in Shimla almost a year ago and came to power in the state six months later, promised the city 24-hour uninterrupted water supply. But reality has hit the BJP hard, and now it seems that the BJP leadership is making a case for privatising water supply in the city.
Shimla city gets its water from five major sources: Gumma, Giri, Ashwani Khad, Churat and Seog. The overall installed capacity is 65 million litres per day (MLD). The demand in the city is approximately 45 MLD. The installed capacity is far beyond the requirement and there should be no reason for the present crisis. But, the city never gets more than an average 35 MLD because nearly 50 per cent of water is lost in leakages. This leakage takes place at both the pumping and distribution stages. No serious efforts were undertaken to check this.
Ashwani Khad was an important water source, but got contaminated in 2005. Since then, city suffers from periodic episodes of Hepatitis. The previous municipal corporation (2012-17) stopped lifting water from Ashwani Khad. There has to be a proper mechanism in place to deal with this issue.
There are more than 50 water sources in and around the city, which are run and operated by the irrigation and public health department (IPH). But, IPH has virtually stopped lifting water from these sources on the pretext that these are contaminated. This added to the burden on the municipal corporation, which has to ensure that water is supplied even to areas not under its jurisdiction. The BJP-run corporation is completely callous, and its management is poor. The elected council is not only apathetic but also does not have the experience of running a city government.
Hotels have lost 40 per cent business due to water crisis
Harman Kukreja
President, Hotels and Restaurant Owners Association, Shimla
There is no doubt that there has been a dry winter this year, but this is not something rare. There have been years when the winter spell has been drier, and the number of tourists coming to Shimla has been higher. I have lived in Shimla for decades but have never seen a crisis of this enormity. It is the result of complete mismanagement, nothing else.
First, the Congress remained in power here, and now the BJP has allowed hundreds of illegal construction because of which the water supply has been diverted.
There is rampant corruption, and anyone can get an illegal water supply connection. There has been an unbridled mushrooming of illegal guest houses. These guest houses have managed to get domestic water connections despite their usage being higher than hotels. Also, repair and maintenance have been ignored for years and, therefore, water supply lines have leakages at several places.
Shimla is a favourite summer destination for tourists from across the country. Due to the crisis this year, hotels have lost almost 40 per cent of business. Residents are running a social media campaign that tourists should not come to Shimla. Also, news has spread across the country that there is no water here.
We are getting calls from those who booked rooms to either extend or cancel their bookings. The solution lies in having a system, which is not dependent only on rain and snow. Also, most of the rain water runs off the surface and is not retained. Smaller localised dams are needed to ensure that every drop is harvested and utilised.
Shimla mayor Kusum Sadret left for China right in the middle of water crisis
Chitleen K. Sethi
Associate Editor, ThePrint
The crisis has been triggered due to an extraordinary dry spell and virtually no snow fall in the past six months. Water supply to the city is largely dependent on the amount of rainwater collected in the Shimla catchment area.
However, what is unforgivable is the complete lack of preparedness on part of the city’s municipal corporation. It is not that the grim situation arising out of the dry spell came as a sudden surprise. Officials in the corporation are supposed to monitor the amount of water being collected, but it seems they remained mute spectators as the water shortage problem took a turn for the worse a fortnight ago.
BJP chief minister, Jai Ram Thakur, inexperienced in governance, was completely let down by his officers. The CMO woke up to the crisis only when protesters knocked at the CM’s doors at midnight. To add insult to injury, city mayor Kusum Sadret left for a pre-planned trip to China right in the middle of the water crisis.
Whatever is being done now amid angry protests, including rationing of water supply, installation of hand pumps, supplementing the rationed supply with water tankers, seizing of illegal boring wells, replacing damaged and leaky pipes, should have been done months ago when it had become clear that Shimla was heading towards a parched summer.
The role played by the division bench of the high court led by acting chief justice Sanjay Karol has been commendable. Taking suo moto cognizance, the court is monitoring the situation daily and keeping the administration on its toes. The judges also asked the corporation to ensure that no special water supply is doled out to VIPs living in Shimla, including houses of judges.
Compiled by Chitleen K. Sethi, associate editor at ThePrint.