Ranchi, April 14: State minister Chandra Prakash Choudhary today admitted that Jharkhand was reeling under a water crisis, but asserted that the situation still wasn't so grim as to draw parallels with Latur, a town in Maharashtra that has become the face of Marathwada's acute water scarcity, triggering an alarm for the whole country.

Buttressing his point, drinking water and sanitation minister Choudhary, who also heads the water resources department, claimed that none of the districts had so far reported any death due to water scarcity neither had people, for that matter, anywhere in the state complained of complete unavailability of water.

"We have already released Rs 32 crore to ensure smooth water supply through tankers. Each district has been given funds ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore to tackle the exigency. If needed, the district administrations can avail more funds from the disaster management department. They also need to involve public representatives, namely, MLAs, MPs, urban municipal body members and panchayat representatives, to tide over the crisis," the minister told The Telegraph.

In a letter to chief minister Raghubar Das yesterday, JVM legislature party leader Pradip Yadav claimed that a Latur-like situation prevailed in several parts of Jharkhand and demanded prompt relief action. He also alleged large-scale irregularities in execution of drinking water supply and irrigation schemes, requesting Das to take corrective measures.

This apart, some media reports have highlighted acute water crisis in Abadganj locality of Daltonganj town.

On Abadganj crisis, Choudhary said that he had sought a detailed report from drinking water and sanitation department principal secretary A.P. Singh in this regard.

"We are going to take prompt action everywhere. But, you people (media) need to understand that water crisis has now become a global problem. And Jharkhand's condition is far better than other states since it has comparatively less thickly populated urban centres," the minister argued.

He added that water tables had gone down drastically in several parts of the state due to inadequate rainfall during the September-October period last year. Groundwater cannot be recharged overnight, and his departments have little role to play in this regard, he asserted.

"Administration has resorted to water rationing in certain urban pockets of Ranchi and Chatra districts. I know that people living in some multi-storey buildings, especially in Ranchi, are facing great difficulties as their motor pumps have become non-functional due to a sharp fall in the underground water level in their areas. We are giving them connections for piped supply," he added.

The minister claimed that 80 per of hand pumps in rural areas were functional and that the status of the complaints regarding water issues received at district-level and block-level control rooms were being monitored regularly.

Since rivers are the main source of different piped water supply schemes and irrigation projects, his departments are taking up repairs and revamps of dams and canals on a priority basis. "We have approved schemes worth over Rs 630 crore for repairing of old dams and canals. The chief minister has approved digging of 1 lakh dobas (ditches) this fiscal to store rainwater, which will provide considerable relief to people," he added.