Shimla: Fast expanding township of Solan was augmented with a new lift water supply scheme to meet increasing present and future demands. Chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on commissioning the Rs 61.79 crore Giri lift water supply scheme for Solan town and over 100 neigbouring villages said that the scheme would supply 14.72 million litres of water daily and had potential to be increase supplies to 22.08 million liters daily.
The new supply could meet the minimum urban and rural water needs of about 1 lakh people and on expansion was capable of meeting the needs of 2.36 lakh people, said Dhumal. Providing safe drinking water was a priority for the government and old schemes being rendered infeasible because of drying of sources were being redesigned to augment supplies, he added.
At another function in Solan the chief minister laid the foundation stone for a Rs 5.11 expansion project of the fruit and vegetable market.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that agriculture-marketing needed to modern facilities to enable farmers to get remunerative prices. To encourage farmer to opt for modern farming techniques, the government had decided to issue “Soil Health Cards” that would allow the farmer to assess what crops suited the soil composition of his farm. For progressive farmers, the government had decided to introduce cash prize schemes, said Dhumal.
