Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], April 11 : Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday instructed district magistrates to expedite a plan to deliver drinking water through pipelines to every village and city of the state.
As per an official statement, Chief Minister Dhami held a review meeting with the officials through video-conferencing regarding the status of the supply of drinking water in the state for the summer season.
Chief Minister instructed the officials to replace tube wells at earliest, keep fire hydrants smooth, build afforestation and check dams in the catchment area.
Keeping in view the Meteorological Department's forecast over a possibility of extreme heat this year, the Chief Minister told officials to identify the places with drinking water shortage and prepare an action plan on how water supply will be done in those areas, an official statement said.
He further said that the message of saving water should be spread through schools, panchayats and social media.
"To reduce the impact of forest fire incidents in summer, valves should be made from drinking water schemes going through the forests so that the fire can be extinguished immediately," CM Dhami said.
Chief Minister Dhami also directed officials to keep a toll-free number operational where citizens can register complaints regarding the supply of drinking water.
He emphasised that the timely disposal of complaints registered through the toll-free number should be ensured. An intensive checking campaign should also be conducted to prevent misuse of water. CM Dhami also directed officials to identify water leakages and ensure immediate repair and arrangement of buffer material and workers for repair, as per an official statement.
Chief Minister further instructed officials to ensure that motor pumps, electrical equipment and pipe spares should be repaired immediately if they get damaged and also instructed to take special care of the purity of water.
"Monitoring and effective arrangement of tankers, GPS-enabled system should be arranged on tankers, and water rates should also be fixed for private tankers," CM Dhami said in the review meeting.
The CM said that small dams and barrages will be built by stopping rainwater. "This will prevent rainwater from getting wasted and water will be used properly in the summer season. For this, all DMs will identify the sites of their districts within three weeks and provide proposals," he said.
In the meeting, Chief Minister also emphasised a plan to build a series of check dams in the districts. He said that in many places in the mountains, water is still being transported by horses and mules, and a long-term plan should be made for those places.