Chattergul Kangan to get safe drinking water

Ganderbal, Aug 21: Residents of Chattergul area in Ganderbal district, who have long faced hardships due to contaminated drinking water, are set to get relief with the approval of a long-pending augmentation proposal of the local water supply scheme.The main source of drinking water for Chattergul has been Nallah Brimshan, which locals say is heavily contaminated and unfit for consumption. Officials said the headworks of the existing water supply scheme need to be extended by about 2 kilometres to tap fresh and clean water. Additionally, a minor revamping of the old filtration plant has also been proposed.The Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department has submitted a project under the UT Capex budget titled “Design, Construction, Testing and Commissioning of Water Supply Scheme Augmentation Chattergul” at an estimated cost of Rs 160 lakh. The move aims to ensure the entire Chattergul belt gets access to pure drinking water.Welcoming the development, MLA Kangan, Mian Mehar Ali, expressed gratitude to the Minister for PHE and Irrigation, the Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary) Jal Shakti Department, and the Chief Engineer PHE Kashmir for approving the proposal. “This was a genuine and long-pending demand of the people of Chattergul. With this project, the entire area will now get separate and safe drinking water facilities,” Ali said.Locals have hailed the move, hoping that the swift implementation of the scheme will end their decades-old struggle for clean water.