Jammu Kashmir Public Health Engineering Department sets up cells in all 10 districts of Jammu region Jammu, May 10 Facing regular complaints against field staff and engineers for not addressing consumers’ complaints, especially regarding the water scarcity, the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department has established 24X7 control rooms at the district level.
According to officials, the control rooms had been set up in each division of 10 districts of the Jammu region during the summer.
Not only the demand shoots up, but the unscheduled power cuts leave infrastructure shut for hours.
Monsoon rains too affect the capacity of the lifting stations run by the department.
“The helpline numbers will be made public after an official meeting on May 12.
Clear directions have been issued to the engineers and field staff to give priority to water supply and take strict steps against private tanker operators who are reportedly fleecing people,” said AK Gandotra, Chief Engineer, PHE department, Jammu.
There have also been complaints that the “water mafia” along with some “corrupt elements” in the PHE department don’t regularly supply water, forcing consumers to buy water from private operators.
It is a big headache for people, especially during the summer when the supply is irregular,” said Tarsem Lal, a resident of Lakshmipuram, Bantalab.
The water requirement in Jammu is 65.12 million gallon daily (MGD), which is mainly met by two sources — surface and ground water.
“In case of any problem we have no contact numbers of the PHE department.