In HP CM’s segment students seek end to shortage of water

Saurabh Chauhan letterschd@hindustantimes.com n

Children of a government school in Shakrah, a village in chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s constituency Shimla rural, waited for over an hour in the scorching heat on Thursday to catch a glimpse of the CM and raise the issue of water crisis in their village.

With the day temperature surging, water crisis has increased in areas located on the outskirts of Shimla. Around 30 kms from Shimla town, Shakrah is a village located near National Law University, Ghandal.

The chief minister, who was on a tour to the assembly segment, was here for around 20 minutes.

While local people did not raise any issue in front of him, students of government senior secondary school, Shakrah, wanted a solution to their problem.

Among those waiting for the CM, four-year-old Anju said, “I haven’t taken a bath for two days because of the water crisis.”

A Class 6 student, Vikrant Kumar of Shech village, said, “Water supply is not regular. My village is far from here. We are waiting for chief minister Virbhadra Singh. I wish he resolves the issue.”

Another student Sunita Devi said that the major problem faced by the villagers is the erratic water supply.

Another student, Subodh from Katiyog village, said, “Natural water source is far from the village and the water supply is not adequate to take care of irrigation.”

Meanwhile, Rattan Lal, a local resident, handed over a memorandum to the chief minister, demanding repairing of the old irrigation line, which was damaged during construction of a road.

Virbhadra Singh, however, did not address the gathering, neither did he interact with the schoolchildren despite arrangements made by the school for this