The Queen of the Hills is reeling under its worst ever water crisis but the alarm bells had rung some time ago. Though there is still a tourist inflow, hoteliers are being forced to advice their guests not to visit Shimla till the water situation improves. Local residents are lucky if they get water once a week, many of them have chosen to leave Shimla till things improve.

Some hotels have closed bookings and some have chosen to close their establishments temporarily.  “The hotels are not provided tankers by the civic body as per a court order two years back. So we have to buy private tankers to fulfil our requirements. This time, even private tankers are not available for many water sources around Shimla have dried up completely,” said Sanjay Sood, president of Hotels and Restaurants Association of North India.

Shimla starts receiving tourists in May, while June registers the highest arrival (3,000-4,000 visitors) per day. The city has a population of over two lakh.

For many years now, Shimla residents have not got daily water supply and supply on alternative days has also been irregular. Over the last week, however, the situation turned critical with people coming out on the streets. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur is personally monitoring the water supply situation thogh the Mayor Kusum Sadret has chosen to visit China at such a time.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court too has taken suo moto cognisance of the grim situation, directing the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) to take immediate steps to make water available to people.

The water crisis in Shimla is not new and an apathetic municipal council and successive state governments have not taken any steps to ease the situation.

Shimla has a requirement of 40-45 million litres of water per day. At present the city is getting around 20 MLD.  The city gets water from five sources ~ Gumma, Giri, Ashwani Khadd, Churut and Seyog.

Supply from Ashwani Khadd water supply scheme, which catered to one third of the city in the lower parts, had to be scrapped two years back after the worst ever outbreak of jaundice, which reportedly claimed 30 lives.

While officials speak of water sources drying up due to lack of snowfall and rain in winter, leakage of water from supply pipes is also responsible for the shortage. “The government came out with a chart two days back on supply of water, dividing Shimla into three zones. Even that is not being followed,” said Sukanya Verma, a local resident.

While water is always a political issue in Shimla, no government has so far thought of checking unabated construction in the city and augmenting existing schemes in keeping with a growing population. Catchment areas of water sources are not being protected either to ensure continuous supply.