65YROLD WOMAN HIT BY WATER TANKER, DIES
SHIMLA: A 65-year-woman died after being hit by a water tanker in Shimla on Saturday. Ironically, the incident comes at a time when such vehicles are a welcome sight in a hill town plagued by acute water shortage.
Sources said the victim, identified as Uma Keperate from Chadiyana village, was walking along Mall Road around 2 pm when a private tanker deployed by the municipal corporation rammed into her. Although she was accompanied by her daughter-in-law Sandeepna and granddaughter Kamana, they managed to escape unhurt.
Uma was rushed to the Indira Gandhi Medical College, where doctors declared her dead on arrival. Janak Raj, senior medical superintendent at the institution, said she suffered fatal injuries in the head, neck and ribs.
The incident occurred while the vehicle was on its way Chhota Shimla.
“I was the first to see the tanker bearing down on us. I managed to drag my daughter to the side, but could not save my mother-in-law,” said Sandeepna.
Police personnel accompanying the water tanker said the driver, Happy Singh from Chakkar area, lost control of the wheel after suffering a seizure. He was taken to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in an unconscious state.
The Shimla municipal corporation has deployed 34 water tankers, including private ones, to alleviate an unprecedented water crisis. The hill town received just 28.1 million litres per day (MLD) of water on Saturday, as compared to its requirement of 45 MLD.
responsible for water distribution) under surveillance on Friday. The court had also asked the civic body to educate citizens on water conservation. Besides, it also asked the media to restrain from reports that could prove detrimental for the capital town’s tourism.
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Meanwhile, IPH minister Mahender Singh Thakur
CM BLAMES CONGRESS FOR WATER WOES
SHIMLA : Chief minister (CM) Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday blamed his predecessor, CM Virbhadra Singh, for water crisis in Shimla.
“The Congress government is responsible for water crisis in Shimla as it failed to execute any water supply scheme for the town,” the CM said, while reviewing the water situation through video conference from New Delhi.
Thakur left for Delhi with a team of officers as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office had sought a report on water crisis in Shimla.
He said he had been monitoring the situation from the last 15 days and was hopeful that the situation would improve soon.
He further said that the state government would make longterm plans for drinking water supply in Shimla.
He called on Union minister of state (MOS) (independent charge) in the ministry of housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri at New Delhi and requested him for financial assistance for improvement of facilities under AMRUT scheme in Shimla.
A government spokesperson said Puri agreed in principle for upgrading sewerage treatment plants of Shimla city and installation of automatic bulk metering system for pin pointing leakage points and their subsequent plugging.
The spokesperson said Puri asked the state to send the detailed projects reports so that funds could be released at the earliest.