SHIMLA: Over 1300 odd villagers of Manju gram panchayat in the vicinity of the capital city, have been struggling to get  drops of water from their water source that supplies 2.5 crore litre of water to Shimla city, rued the villagers.

While the government is celebrating the Amrut Mahotsav to commemorate the 75th year of independence, it is ironical people living in the vicinity Shimla  where they have their own source of water are facing the problem of drinking water today, said Dr Kuldip Singh  Tanwar, president,  Himachal Kisan Sabha,  who led the delegation of Manju panchayat to the Jal Shakti office at Sunni  on Thursday.

In the midst of Amrit Mahotsav, the people of Manju Panchayat with a population of about 1300 have to struggle for every drop of water.

According to the parameters set by the Jal Shakti Department, the Gram Panchayat Manju needs 90 thousand to one lakh litres of water per day, but they are getting only 10 to 12 thousand litres of water per day, whereas this source is suppling 2.5 crore litre of water to Shimla city every day.

Delegation of Panchayat met the executive engineer, Jal Shakti Department Sunni. The delegation included Panchayat Pradhan Renu, BDC members and all ward members- Satyawan Pundir, president of Kisan Sabha of district Shimla, Madan Lal Bhardwaj, vice-president of Kasumpti, Hari Singh Verma, Sitaram Verma, Tekchand Verma, Rupendra, Leeladas, Dalip, Rajendra, Dinaram. About 40 people, including Karmadas, Krishna Devi were among the aggrieved members of the delegation.

Tanwar said Manju is a vegetable-producing area, which needs water for irrigation and as such a bigger  plan should be prepared  to meet the needs of the farmers.

Executive engineer PP Sharma assured the delegation that the department would repair the existing scheme to ensure adequate drinking water supply for the summer and if needed the machinery would also be replaced. Sharma said that on February 18, he himself will visit the area with his team. Sharma informed that another water scheme from Naya Ser khad is proposed for this area. The proposal would  be sent to the central government for a big irrigation scheme for the coming financial year, Sharma said.

He thanked the executive engineer and other officers of the department for his positive attitude and hoped that the department would fulfil its promise at the earliest.