Jain calls for shift from a “fix it later” approach to culture of proactiveness
2 min readSHIMLA 5 January, 2026
Preventive measures to safeguard drinking water sources reviewed
Recognizing that access to clean water is fundamental to public health and environmental sustainability, Secretary, Jal Shakti, Dr. Abhishek Jain today held a detailed meeting with senior officers of the Jal Shakti Vibhag to review preventive measures for protecting water resources across the State. The focus of the meeting not only remained on safeguarding drinking water supply schemes being run by the department to ensure long-term water security for the region but also on monitoring of Sewerage Treatment Plants.
It was informed during the meeting that tap water connections have been provided to every household in 17632 villages in rural areas. To ensure water quality, the department is operating a robust testing mechanism through 72 laboratories. Of these, 14 laboratories are functioning at the district level, 57 at the sub-division level and one State-level laboratory is dedicated to comprehensive water quality testing through samples collected from households.
The Secretary directed that clear instructions be conveyed to all field officers, from Executive Engineers to Junior Engineers, to mandatorily visit all water sources, including water storage tanks, at least once in ten days. These inspections are to be properly documented and reported to his office on a regular basis. He emphasized that Village Water Sanitation Committees should be actively engaged to inspect all types of water surface water sources which includes local rivulets (khuds), nallahs and streams, as well as spring-based sources. He further directed the activation of Block Resource Persons and field staff to regularly check water quality using Field Test Kits (FTK) already distributed to them. Sh. Jain instructed that immediate cleaning and corrective measures must be completed within a period of 15 days of all sources.
