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| Meters to check drinking water still a distant dream | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 7: Few months ago, the state government has passed a Bill to generate the tax for water supply in Public Health Engineering (PHE) department, for that they announced to install water meters in all the parts of the state. But still these announcements are pending due to one reason or other.
The Bill was passed by the state Assembly by a voice vote after it was introduced for consideration and passing by PHE Minister Taj Mohiuddin.
It was aimed to check the misuse of the drinking water as in recent years most parts of the state were facing scarcity of water due to over exploitation and population growth.
When contacted, Chief Engineer PHE Dalip Bakshi said that the water meter has not installed till now. “Installation process will start soon and we are making arrangements for the same”.
Despite the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is having thousands of glacier fed rivers and streams, but in recent years due to global warming and ruthless exploitation of the water bodies, most of them are receding.
In most parts of the city, people are facing acute shortage of water during the summer and most parts of winter.
For past over seven years, there is sharp decline in the rainfall and snowfall across all the three regions of the state which has also affected the farming. Added to this is the rapid urbanization and industrializations, which has polluted the water bodies.
According to the data, though state has so far used only 16 per cent of the ground water available in the state and Government want to conduct a comprehensive study of its water resources. State is also studying another new concept of 'water budgeting' so as to brace up with the actual demand and requirement of drinking water in the years to come.
"We have also decided to use water meters in Jammu and Srinagar cities in the first phase to check the misuse of drinking water", said Minister.
The water metering will be taken up under Urban Infrastructure Development in Small and Medium Towns and Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). "We have also decided to revise the water tax in the State so that the concept of judicious use of water is implemented", said an official.
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