“Water shortage is not only about supply and regulation of drinking water facilities but it is also about accessibility of farmers to irrigation facilities and the timing of farming season interestingly coincides with the peak tourist season in Jammu & Kashmir.
The unprecedented rise in day temperatures triggering a heat wave almost a month before peak summer months necessitates review of some key public services particularly water and health facilities in Jammu & Kashmir like other parts of the country. While the complaints of water shortage have started pouring in from different parts of both Kashmir valley and Jammu division, the Jal Shakti Department instead of looking into the complaints of water shortage for the purposes of immediate corrective measures has started threatening consumers of disconnection in case of delaying the payments of their pending bills. True it is that consumers delaying the payment of pending water tariff bills are liable for disconnection but fact remains that Jal Shakti Department is not at liberty to threaten disconnection of the water connections in peak summer months as such a decision is tantamount to risk the lives of people. The duty of the Jal Shakti Department is to reduce the risks of life triggered by ongoing heat wave but not to intensify their vulnerability to a severe humanitarian crisis like water shortage under the garb of recovery of the pending water tariff bills. Water shortage does not concern only domestic consumers but it equally concerns commercial establishment also particularly hoteliers in peak tourist periods amid commencement of the annual Amarnath Yatra across Jammu & Kashmir. Furthermore water shortage is not only about supply and regulation of drinking water facilities but it is also about accessibility of farmers to irrigation facilities and the timing of farming season interestingly coincides with the peak tourist season in Jammu & Kashmir. Chaos and confusion over simmering water crisis is as good a reality in Jammu & Kashmir as it is in most parts of North India like Delhi, Rajasthan, and Madhya Preadesh presently reeling under unprecedented heat wave.
“As significantly higher temperatures in urban areas than their surrounding rural areas make them more vulnerable to water crisis the regulation and supply of drinking water necessitates more attention in Srinagar city and major towns of Kashmir Valley than the rural areas. With heat wave changing Srinagar city and major towns almost into furnaces, the adequate comprehensive mitigation and adaptation strategies necessitate immediate intervention from the Jal Shakti Department for the purposes of reducing the complaints of water shortage otherwise rising unprecedentedly in peak summer months since last several years in Kashmir Valley.”
Since experiences of recent yeas show that Jal Shakti Department is forced to supply drinking water to consumers in tankers in the peak summer periods in Srinagar and major towns of Kashmir, administrative wisdom demands an urgent review of the supply and regulation of drinking water facilities much before the occurrence of water crisis in one or several parts of Kashmir Valley in commencing peak summer periods. As significantly higher temperatures in urban areas than their surrounding rural areas make them more vulnerable to water crisis the regulation and supply of drinking water necessitates more attention in Srinagar city and major towns of Kashmir Valley than the rural areas. With heat wave changing Srinagar city and major towns almost into furnaces, the adequate comprehensive mitigation and adaptation strategies necessitate immediate intervention from the Jal Shakti Department for the purposes of reducing the complaints of water shortage otherwise rising unprecedentedly in peak summer months since last several years in Kashmir Valley.
