Khunti’s Patrayur village suffering from acute water and lack of sanitation is on its way towards getting rid of the problems. Natives of the village are working hard to promote Government of India’s (GoI) Rural Water Supply and Sanitation-low Income States (RWSS-lIS) project inaugurated on June 6.
The project basically aims at providing tap water and toilet facilities in each home of this village. Patrayur is undertaken as ‘Single Village Scheme’ in this project. According to the Government officials, the curiosity towards “Knowing minute benefits of this project” made them mark this place as the first village for such a step of GoI in Jharkhand.
Villagers are meeting at panchayat and gram sabha to understand the on-ground impact. Also, they are being encouraged by Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) individuals on how to avoid diseases due to lack of sanitation. Presently, these individuals are forced to rely on well water and minimal amount of tap water available within their vicinity.
Project Executive Engineer Chandrasekhar deployed in this village said that the “drinking water and sanitation hurdles” of this village would end forever if the present cooperation of villagers’ with the Government continues.
“It will take us around six months to connect each home with water pipeline system. Since the village is under MGNREGA scheme, the toilets in the homes will be constructed by 20 unskilled labourers and six workers employed under MGNREGA here,” he added. Patrayur Mukhiya Suman Bhengra said, “We have to form a committee for implementation of this programme. This will be done by the end of this week. The DPR and tenders for this purpose will also be managed by us. For this, we need the support of government officials who can explain the guidelines of how to prepare these technical documents. The response of this work will bear fruits in the next three months”
Significantly, RWSS-lIS has been developed for identified districts of four states namely Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. As per Census 2011 figures, these states have the lowest percentage of households with rural pipe water coverage. Sources maintain that State Drinking Water and Sanitation minister Jai Prakash Bhai Patel has signed the proposal of expanding the project to remaining 18 districts of the State as well. In Jharkhand, the project covers six districts including Khunti, Dumka, Saraikela-Kharsawan, East Singhbhum, Palamau and Garhwa with estimated cost of Rs 900 crores.