JAMMU: Jammu Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta assured on Monday that drinking water supply in the city would be improved in the coming months as there were protests against power and water crisis in different parts of the region.
The National Panthers Party (NPP) staged a protest demonstration outside the BJP headquarters here, while many people came out on roads in protest in different parts of the city to vent their anger over power and water woes, officials said.
Making an appeal to the people for judicious use of water, Gupta said he, along with officers of the BJP-ruled Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and the Jal Shakti Department, are personally conducting extensive tours of water filtration plants and the Public Health Engineering (PHE) pumping stations to take stock of the situation.
“Efforts are on to improve the water supply to the consumers by linking the filtration plants and pumping stations with dedicated electric feeders to ensure uninterrupted water supply. Besides this, solar panels will also be installed at Sheetli filtration plant on priority basis, the mayor told reporters here.
Referring to the additional allocation of 207 MW of electricity from the central government on April 28, he said the power crisis has eased to some extent as the Power Development Department has restricted the outage in the city to six hours daily.
He also appealed to the people to cooperate with the sanitation staff of JMC to keep the city neat and clean to welcome lakhs of pilgrims from across the country for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage which is going to start on June 30.
Activists of the NPP led by former minister Harsh Dev Singh staged a demonstration outside the BJP headquarters here to protest the power and water crisis.
“BJP is ruling J&K through proxy for the last three-and-a-half years and has failed the people of Jammu which is evident that the basic amenities like power and water supply are being denied in the scorching heat,” Singh said.
The Shiv Sena Dogra Front also staged a protest demonstration against the power crisis in the heart of the city. There were also reports of protests in Rajouri, Samba and Reasi districts. (PTI)
