Dharamshala: Completion of the new scheme would provide this sprawling hill township with 24X7 water supply and the union government has sanctioned funds for full automation of the sewerage treatment plant, public health officials here disclosed today.
Speaking to the media Rakesh Mahajan, a superintending engineer with irrigation and public health department said that the Dharamshala sewerage system was the only one in urban Himachal to have achieved more than 90 percent connections with users.
“We recently have even received a union government sanction of Rs 1.92 crore for automation of the sewerage treatment plant,” he said. The plant installed is of 5.15 million liter (MLT) per day capacity but the present inflow was only 3 MLT.
He said that the Rs 29.73 crore new water supply scheme for Dharamshala was a work in progress and it would provide a 24 hour water supply to the township.
The job involves laying of about 100 Kms of supply lines for which an underground duct is being planned, said Mahajan.
Another 20 Kms of line would be laid for regular water supply to 47 fire hydrants. The entire project is targeted for completion by November 2016, he added.
About progress on other projects, he said that work on the schemes for Palampur, Jwalamukhi, Dehra and Nurpur stood completed and work was going on the Rs 17.45 crore scheme for Kangra and Rs 11.02 crore scheme for Nagrota Bagwan.
Regarding water supply in the rural areas of Kangra district Mahajan said that the entire population of 15,10,075 residing in 3617 village of the district were be supplied piped water.
“Against an country average of 55 liters per day per person for rural areas we are supplying 75 liters and in urban areas the supply is 125 liters per day per person,” he said.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
