To rehabilitate 108 water supply schemes of water-logged areas, Punjab Government has submitted comprehensive project worth Rs 2,200 crore to the World Bank.
Besides, the project would also work for improving operational performance of 1000 existing water supply schemes and for installing water treatment systems (ROs) in 250 quality affected villages with heavy metal or uranium.
The project also envisaged construction of individual household toilets and piped sewerage system in around 500 villages. In addition, it envisioned setting up of a training institute for development of training modules or manuals and organising training, orientation capacity building programme for departmental engineers, district officials, panchayat members, motivators, sector professionals, school teachers, students and executive agencies etc.
“The department has also been instructed to come out with the time bound programme of toilets in villages to eradicate open defecation. Even after 67 years of independence, the open defecation is a curse and SAD-BJP Government is committed to eradicate it,” said the state Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra. Already, the Chief Minister has set a target to ensure that all non-covered villages pending so far must be provided with piped water supply up to the end of current financial year 2014-15 leading to NC free status for Punjab as on April 1, 2015.
Also, a target has been set that Punjab should be open defecation free with the construction of toilets in the remaining households of Punjab during the next three years.