Mandi without water for 3rd day

Mahesh Chander Sharma

Sundernagar, May 13

Around 45,000 residents of the town remained without water for the third day today. The residents accused the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department of failing to maintain the pumping station.

The pumping station has stopped lifting 70 lakh litres of water from the Beas as the contents of silt have reached an alarming level.

Residents have to either fetch water from natural sources, most of which were contaminated, or purchase water through tankers.

According to field officials of the IPH Department, excessive silt in the Beas was causing problems in the pumping machinery. Moreover, the department did not have trained staff to run the machinery.

Arun Sharma, executive engineer of the IPH Department, said water could not be lifted due to excessive silt in the Beas. He said the water supply would be restored till evening.

The Himachal Pradesh Upbhogta Sangh gave a representation to the Mandi Deputy Commissioner yesterday and demanded an alternate arrangement for distributing water in the town.

Local residents said the IPH was supplying water for a few minutes every day which was not enough to meet the daily requirements.