Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Mithilesh Thakur directed the officials to complete the work of drinking water supply schemes within the time limit for continuous quality water supply to all the rural families of the state through functional domestic tap water. All engineers should continuously monitor the progress of the work and visit the area to ensure work as per the quality standards and ensure to inform the department about the progress report.
He reprimanded them and said that the contractors who have not been able to complete the work given on time should complete the work on time. He gave the last chance to those contractors to complete the work and warned them that if the work is not completed in the said period, they will be debarred. All the contractors should ensure to complete the works of the schemes on time with accountability. He was reviewing the progress of drinking water supply schemes being implemented under Jal Jeevan Mission during the state level marathon review meeting by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation at the Collectorate of Garhwa district on Thursday.
Thakur said that all the Executive Engineers should constantly take the support of their Deputy Commissioner to obtain NOC and solve other problems at the rural level. Ensure regular quality based drinking water supply to those rural families who have been covered with functional domestic tap water (FHTC).
The Minister directed all the engineers and contractors to work in mission mode. The progress of all drinking water supply schemes under Medininagar zone and multi-rural drinking water supply schemes worth more than Rs 50 crore under other 8 zones was reviewed. In which there are a total of 108 multi-rural water supply schemes.
During the review, it was found that on 15 August 2019, tap water connection was available in only 3.45 lakh (5.64 percent) rural households across the state. After the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission, despite challenges like the Covid pandemic and inaccessible areas, till now a total of 33.96 lakh (54.34 percent) households across the state have been covered with functional domestic tap water. During the review of the progress of district-wise coverage percentage, it was found that the coverage of Simdega district is 93 percent, which is above the national average of 78 percent coverage. The department is making every possible effort to make Simdega district the first “Har Ghar Jal” district of the state.
The review meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Mast Ram Meena, Rajiv Ranjan Kumar, Special Secretary, Vijay Kumar Gupta, Additional Secretary and Brijnandan Kumar, Chief Engineer, all Chief Engineers, Superintending Engineers, Executive Engineers and all concerned contractors.
