Srinagar, July 13: In a bid to prevent misuse of potable water, the Public Health Engineering Department has started a drive against the offenders in the summer Capital.
 The PHE officials in a statement said: “The misuse of potable water for kitchen gardens, lawns, construction works, washing of vehicles and roads etc was causing inconvenience in neighborhoods in particular and scarcity of potable water to areas in general.”
 Flying Squads comprising of Assistant Engineers, Junior Engineers and Inspectors associated with line staff have been constituted by the department for the inspections in the City.
 On the first day of drive  Thursday, scores of rubber pipes and boosters were recovered.
  “During the operation a big number of consumers from all walks of life were found misusing potable water using rubber / plastic hoses for lawn, kitchen garden watering etc,” PHE Executive Engineer, Shafat Hussain Qadeemi said.
  Qadeemi appealed the Masjid Intizaamiyas and Molvis to play a role in educating people to refrain from the water misuse.
  He said if people can afford to maintain lawns and kitchen gardens they should also spend money to utilize underground water through hand pumps and wells.
 ““The Flying Squad is empowered to conduct random checking of the premises of the consumers to check misuse of precious drinking water, remove on line boosters, confiscate rubber pipes found using potable water for purposes other than drinking,” the PHE officials said.
  “The offenders shall also be dealt with law provided under Jammu and Kashmir Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act 2010,” they added.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST