Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 30: As a part of reformative measures and to ensure judicious use of water in the State, the Government will strictly implement the Water Regulatory Act in letter and spirit. The reforms include installation of water meters in all commercial and non-commercial establishments to realize the water usage charges as per the notified tariff by the J&K Water Regulatory Authority.
This was stated by the Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Sham Lal Sharma while interacting with the members of Kashmir Hotel & Restaurant Association, here today.
The Minister said that water usage charges are essential to improve the overall drinking water scenario in the State as also envisaged by the Central Government to bring reforms and create own resources for developing and maintenance of water supply schemes in the State. He said the Government has created an independent authority viz J&K Water Regulatory Authority to oversee the reforms and fixing the water usage tariff for commercial as well as domestic users and Government is bound to implement the reformative measures. He said the water resources are receding fast and it is mandatory for the Government to put in place some effective measures to ensure judicious use of water.
The Minister said that Government has been receiving representations from various stakeholders for review of present rules and tariff. He said the Water Regulatory Authority will examine all such claims and put up its recommendations to the Government. The Government will seek the views of various stakeholders and remove the discrepancies, if any. He sought cooperation from the civil society and commercial establishments for implementation of reformative measures to make judicious use of water. He said the Government will adopt a people friendly approach and try to address the genuine demands of stakeholders.
The delegation of Hotels and Restaurant Association which called on the Minister comprised Showkat Choudhary, Fayaz Bakshi, Manzoor Ahmed, Adil Khan and Abdul Majeed.
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