by Peerzada Arshad Hamid

NEW DELHI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- A severe water shortage has hit northern Indian tourist destination of Shimla, forcing residents to make beeline to water tankers.

For the past 10 days, the crisis has seemed to be deepening with residents often seen carrying buckets. Photographs showing men and women waiting for getting their plastic buckets filled with water even made it to the front pages of many local dailies.

The crisis have hit at a time when most people used to throng the hill station to escape the scorching heat of the summers.

With no end to the crisis, hotels and locals urged tourists to stay away Shimla as it is grappling with a severe water shortage.

In the wake of the crisis, several hotels have been closed down in the otherwise bustling tourist destination. Residents including women and children even took to roads to stage protests against the government for failing to provide the water supply.

"For the past so many days we are not receiving water. To fill a bucket of water I have to come on road like many other residents and wait for the tanker," Vikarm Arora, a local resident said.

Officials however blamed the ongoing water crisis on a dry winter, claiming that the mountainous region recorded low snowfall during the winters.

Shimla, the Himalayan city is the capital of northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

A campaign urging tourists to stay away and "let the place breathe for a while" has gone viral on social media.

"It'll only get worse as tourists throng the place in large numbers during June, and it will make life really difficult for the locals," read a post that has been widely shared on social media.

Reports said many tourists have cancelled their advance bookings to visit the place after the campaign on social media.

Tourism is key source of income for the residents.

"This year the water shortage is severe and that is precisely the reason some hotels are reluctant to entertain the intending tourists," said Hemraj Thakur, manager at Hotel Apple Rose.

Reports said the hotel owners are sending out mass messages to visitors, warning them of the situation in the hill station.

Tourists staying in several hotels in the city complained of being overcharged for bottled water and are being given water in buckets, local media reports said.

Authorities meanwhile have ordered to cut illegal water supply connections in a bid to normalize the water crisis in the city.

"I received a couple of complaints regarding illegal connections of water and I have ordered to cut their supplies," Amit Kashyap, a local government official told media.

Estimates say over 200,000 people live in Shimla which require at least 44 million liters of water a day. Apart from this, 15,000 to 20,000 tourists visit the city during peak seasons.

Experts say it was unrealistic to assume that the Shimla Municipal Corporation can provide this huge requirement even in a year of good snowfall and rain.