LUCKNOW: With assembly elections round the corner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh has expedited the work of starting door-to-door supply of drinking water in the villages of Bundelkhand and the Vindhya region from December.
Officials said trial runs have begun and along with starting tap water supply in Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions, the work of ‘har ghar nal yojana’ (tap water in each house) had been expedited in more than two dozen districts like Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur and Mathura.
“Water supply will be started in most of these districts by March 2022,” an official said.
“Under the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme, the work of laying pipelines in remote rural areas in the state, including Bundelkhand and Vindhyas as well as laying pure drinking water supply lines to individual houses has also been completed,” an official said.
Principal secretary, Namami Gange and rural water supply department Anurag Srivastava said that directions had been issued to regularly monitor the functioning of the water treatment plants and check water lines laid at various levels.
“Directions have been given to stop the leakage and wastage of water in the line at any cost. Water supply work is on the verge of completion in most of the villages of Bundelkhand,” he said.
Officials said that the ‘tap water in every house scheme’, being run with the help of the centre, was being completed about six months before the scheduled time.
“By getting pure water, people of rural areas will get rid of diseases and overcome the problem of potable. Till now, the people in villages were dependent only on water from hand pumps located in far off regions,” officials said.
Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the UP government had so far provided 31.76 lakh water connections in over 97,000 villages, officials said.
“Not only this, the government has provided 19.15 lakh tap connections in the last financial year. The state government is working to provide 59 lakh tap water connections in the current financial year, 85.40 lakh in financial year 2022-23 and 90.01 lakh in financial year 2023-24,” an official said.
Piped water will reach a population of 7268705 in Bundelkhand and 40,45,943 in Vindhya region, the official said.
A total of 467 piped drinking water schemes have been implemented in 32 projects under Jal Jeevan Mission in Bundelkhand region.
“Of these, 43 are surface water-based schemes and 424 are ground water-based ones. Through these schemes, arrangements will be made for 1195265 functional home water connections for a population of 7268705 of 3823 revenue villages. Pure water will be supplied to 1195265 households. These projects will benefit 40 tehsils, 68 development blocks and 2608-gram panchayats of seven districts of Bundelkhand region,” the official said.
There are 162 piped drinking water schemes under 17 projects under Jal Jeevan Mission in the Vindhya region, along with 22 surface water-based schemes and 140 ground water-based ones. Under these schemes, 6,69,508 functional house water connections (FHTCs) have been provided for a population of 40,45,943 of 2,961 revenue villages and this will supply pure drinking water to a total of 6,69,508 households.
“Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ of Jal Jeevan Mission will also help provide employment and in the first phase, more than 30,000 people will be hired on contract in the projects being completed in Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions. Along with the operation of water supply system in villages and towns, fitters, plumbers, mechanic and security guards will also be recruited,” officials said.
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