To improve water and sanitation services and create open defecation free environment in all villages across Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday said that the State Government has embarked ‘Punjab Rural Water and Sanitation Sector Improvement Project’ worth Rs 2,200 crore.
Badal, interacting with the media persons after visiting Mann village adopted by his daughter-in-law and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna, said that the state government was committed to provide basic civic amenities in every nook and corner of the State.
“The focus of new project is to provide a toilet and water connection in all the households within next three years (2015-2018)…All the existing rural water supply schemes would be augmented to provide 70 liters per capita per day (lpcd) against the current consumption of 40 lpcd,” he said. The CM pointed out that enhancement of water supply scheme to 70 lpcd would make it technically feasible to release water connections to all households as per demand.
He said that this, in turn, would lead to financial sustainability of Rural Water Supply (RWS) schemes and the villagers would have access to minimum 10 hour water supply.
Badal said that it was a matter of great pride and satisfaction that Punjab would become the first state in the country to achieve the prescribed norm for supplying potable drinking water at par with international standards in the rural sector besides making our state free from ‘open defecation’.
He said that the State was already committed to provide the clean and safe water to the people of Punjab, especially in rural areas, and thus earmarked Rs 300 crore to provide treated water from surface water resources such as rivers or canals to water quality affected in 121 villages of Moga and Barnala districts.