Normal water supply to resume in Shimla shortly, says SJPNL

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 30

City residents can expect resumption of normal water supply over the next few days. “We have been assured by the Electricity Department that the repaired transformer will be installed at the Gumma Water Scheme by April 3. Once it is done, daily water supply will resume,” said SJPNL AGM Anil Jaswal at the monthly MC House here today.

Ever since the electricity transformer short-circuited on March 13, the city has been facing water shortage as SJPNL has not been able to pump the required amount of water from the Gumma Water Scheme. As a result, water is being supplied on alternate days and the Nigam has been struggling to adhere to the supply timing as well.

Meanwhile, Urban Development Minister said Rs 2.92 crore has been allotted to the Electricity Department for installing an additional transformer at the water scheme. “With an additional transformer at the site, there will be no problem of this nature in the future,” he said.

The councillors also raised the issue of shortage of funds, which has stalled some development projects. “Many development projects are nearing completion but the work has stopped as the MC is not releasing any funds,” said councillor Aarti Chauhan.

Admitting that there was a severe shortage of funds, Commissioner Ashish Kohli said the MC’s own financial resources were not enough to meet even the salary and pension liability of the staff, which was close to Rs 70 crore annually. “For development works, we are totally dependent on grants. We have written to the Urban Development Minister and secretary to apprise them of the situation,” he said.

The House also gave a go-ahead to the proposal of providing yellow line parking. As many as 1,342 parking slots will be created behind yellow lines in different wards of the city. While the monthly fee for a parking slot will be Rs 800, the facility will be available on hourly basis as well, with parking fee ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 50. Once the scheme becomes operational, it will provide a lot of relief to the people looking to park their vehicles in the city.

Dependent on grants

For development works, we are totally dependent on grants. We have written to the Urban Development Minister and secretary to apprise them of the situation. — Ashish Kohli, MC Commissioner

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