BJP, Cong leaders in war of words over water shortage in Solan city

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, September 4

A blame game has begun in the Solan Municipal Corporation (MC) with the BJP and the Congress accusing each other for the ongoing water crisis.

Solan has a Congress MLA and the local MC is held by the Congress which has its Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

While Congress Mayor Punam Grover and Deputy Mayor Rajiv Kaura blamed the BJP for deliberately creating a water crisis in the city, BJP leaders today alleged that the Congress was trying to cover up its failure. The Mayor and the Deputy Mayor had taken the Executive Engineer of the Jal Shakti Vibhag (JSV) to task in his office yesterday.

Play blame game

While Congress Mayor Punam Grover and Deputy Mayor Rajiv Kaura blamed the BJP for deliberately creating a water crisis in the city, BJP leaders alleged that the Congress was trying to cover up its failure

The Congress MLA had visited the Giri water scheme at Gaura earlier this week to take stock of the situation after there was no water supply in the Circuit House where he was staying.

Convener of BJP intellectual cell Shailender Gupta, while talking to mediapersons here, blamed the Congress for the water crisis. He said that the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor had failed to use Rs 2.80 crore given by the state government to improve the water distribution system.

Residents, however, continued to reel under the water crisis as they were getting the supply after five or six days. Besides the power failure, the presence of silt in water disrupted its lifting, aggravating the crisis.

Mandeep Singh, Superintending Engineer, HP State Electricity Board Limited, Sirmaur, said, “The Executive Engineer, Rajgarh, visited the Giri water scheme at Gaura to take stock of the situation. It is being ensured that there is no snag till the point of supply and repair is undertaken. Beyond this point, the Jal Shakti Vibhag is to maintain the system. A joint inspection was undertaken with the JSV staff to identify the faults”.

Commissioner, Solan MC, LR Verma said that a letter had been written to the Executive Engineer, JSV, Rajgarh, to ensure regular power supply to the Giri scheme at Gaura.