Jammu: The Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department’s much-talked about contingency plans to tide over drinking water shortage have miserably failed in the winter capital of the state with many parts of Jammu city getting water supply after a gap of three to four days and that too, for just 45-50 minutes.
Consequently, there is a simmering discontent and resentment among the residents as the grim situation has emerged in ‘Shravan Maas’ which is considered as one of the holiest months in the year as per the Hindu calendar. The ‘Sawan’ month, as per the Hindu mythology, is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Leave aside the domestic water needs of people, sometimes the devotees of Lord Shiva do not even get water to offer at most of the temples in the city. Much to the people’s annoyance, the PHE officials are inaccessible to them.
“The unavailability of drinking water to people has punctured the balloon of good governance being claimed by the BJP-PDP government. We had never seen such a water crisis in the past. While the PHE officials have nothing to say except for giving lame excuses, the ruling politicians have turned a blind to the situation,” a furious Shashi Pal, a resident of Mubarak Mandi, said.
Vivek Sharma, a resident of Pacci Dhaki area, said, “There was no water in the temple of Lord Shiva on the first Monday of the ‘Sawan’ month which caused great resentment among the devotees. Not just the PHE authorities, the ruling leadership has also been hurting the religious sentiments of people. Where are their action plans for the summer and monsoon seasons? There seems to be a complete collapse of governance as the government has failed to fix the responsibility for faulty planning on the part of the authorities.”