Residents of Kulhaal village, located on the border of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, are suffering from acute water shortage due to sheer administrative negligence.
Despite being situated along the banks of the Yamuna River, villagers here have long battled the scarcity of drinking water. It’s not that water infrastructure was never available—earlier, the village received water through a tubewell managed by the Irrigation Department.
To provide a permanent and improved water supply system, the government launched a project worth approximately ₹2.25 crore under the **Jal Jeevan Mission**. The project, started in February 2023, was scheduled for completion by **February 22, 2024**. However, more than a year past the deadline, the project remains incomplete on the ground.
Just as the villagers were waiting for the benefits of the scheme that promised “Har Ghar Nal, Har Ghar Jal” (tap water in every home), the tubewell system that once supplied water **completely stopped working**.
To make matters worse, officials from the Jal Sansthan (Water Institute) and the contractors responsible for the project **put up signboards outside villagers’ homes claiming the scheme’s implementation**, despite the fact that **neither water lines nor water have reached most houses**.
This has left villagers helpless—forced to fetch water from distant sources and stand in long queues for their turn.
It seems that officials and contractors have together derailed one of the government’s most ambitious projects. The key question now is: How long before the people of Kulhaal finally get relief from this water crisis?
