NEW DELHI: For resident doctors and research and medical students staying in the hostels of the All-India Institute of Medical Science here, "sterilised, clean drinking water' will no longer be a luxury. Having fought to keep viral hepatitis, gastroenteritis and other water-related diseases at bay each summer year after year, the AIIMS hostels are finally being equipped with reverse osmosis water units.

In which we attempt to assess what average Indians living in big cities think about India's environment, and to gauge their levels of awareness, attitudes, perception and concerns Methodology

The Jammu and Kashmir government is spending Rs 500 crore to raise 40 important infrastructure projects including construction of roads and bridges in Kashmir division, a senior official said on Sunday. Work has already started on 32 projects, Mehboob Iqbal, divisional commissioner, Kashmir said while addressing a meeting convened here to review the pace of work on the road and bridge projects. Iqbal said adding Rs 278 crore are being spend on 16 road projects while the economic reconstruction agency is incurring Rs 42 crore on construction of 17 bridges.

Nahan - Water supply to Nahan town has been disrupted since Saturday due to a disruption in the Khairi drinking water supply scheme. Water supply to residents has been rationed, forcing people to carry water from handpumps. The authorities informed the residents through public announcements that they should limit their water use. They said the problem would continue for three days, but warned it could take longer to fix the problem.

In view of the ever increasing scarcity of fresh drinking water throughout the country, an innovative idea of setting up a water refinery in Asom and supplying refined water through water pipelines to the rest of the country is awaiting Dispur's nod. The annual per capita availability of fresh water in India has decreased from 6,000 cubic meter in 1947 to 2,100 cubic meter, which reflects the possibility of an acute fresh water crisis in the near future.

Mumbaikars can smile now. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally assured them that there will be no water cuts before the monsoon gets into its full flow. The civic officials said that till now there is water storage of 54,990 million litre per day (MLD) in the lakes which is sufficient to last for another 15 to 20 days. Hoping that monsoon arrives in the city by that time the city will face no water cuts. According to BMC figures the water levels in the civic lakes have gone down as compared to last year and fears of likely water cuts was being expressed.

UDALGURI

It is not just the temperature that is rising in Madhya Pradesh but also the anxiety over water supply. Water has become so scarce that while people at some places are hiring armed guards to prevent its theft, at others they have been found using a lottery system to fill their buckets.

The minister for major irrigation, Mr Ponnala Lakshmaiah, said on Thursday that tenders wo-uld be soon called to launch a water project to supply Godavari water to seven mandals in Mulug division. The minister said government was keen to fulfil the wish of the division peoples' long-pending demand for supply of Godavari water.

TIMES VIEW Keep off the business of faith Who said the government is insensitive to the needs of the public? Keeping in mind the religious sentiments of many Hindus, post offices in Ghaziabad have started to sell bottled Ganga water. They will earn a commission on each bottle sold. A private company and Garhwal Vikas Mandal, a government body, are responsible for procurement and packaging of the water sourced from Gaumukh in the Himalayas.