People in Srinagar drink dirty water : Deputy Chief Minister

Srinagar, Aug 2 (UNI) Admitting that people in some areas of Jammu and Kashmir were drinking dirty water, Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig said Rs 2000 crores were being spent under Bharat Nirman to provide pure water to people.

Meanwhile, Public Health Engineering and Irrigation minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal demanded that a house committee be set up to probe the failure of different water supply schemes in the state.

Intervening during question hour in the Legislative Assembly today, Mr Baig said the issue of providing pure drinking water to people was a very serious issue.

''Recently I saw people of one of the area in the city taking water from a drain from where dogs were also drinking water,'' he said adding there were allegations about the supply of unfiltered water to people from other areas also.

He said a lot of work has been done to ensure supply of drinking water to people. However, much more was needed to be done in this sector, he said.

Mr Baig said the state government has been allocated Rs 2000 crores under Bharat Nirman for covering areas where so far no drinking water has been provided through pipes.

''We have to spend the entire money by 2009,'' he said, adding ''we have to speed up the work.'' Earlier, replying to main question of Faqir Chand, Mr Afzal said the government will do everything possible to address the water shortage issue.

The members belonging to treasury and opposition alleged that majority of water supply schemes across the state were defunct and people were being supplied water without any filtration.

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