The villagers of the Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions will no longer have to carry drinking water from miles away as the state government will provide potable water to every household from December.
“The preparations for this are in the final stages. Trial runs have been started in many areas,” a government spokesman said here on Saturday.
Along with starting tap water supply in Bundelkhand and Vindhya, the work of Har Ghar Nal Yojana has also been expedited in more than two dozen districts like Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur and Mathura.
Principal Secretary (Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply) Anurag Srivastava reviewed the preparations for starting water supply. He has been directed to regularly monitor the functioning of the water treatment plants as well as to check the water pipelines laid at various levels.
He has directed officials to check the leakage and wastage of water in the waterline at any cost. Water supply works are on the verge of completion in most of the villages of Bundelkhand.
‘The Har Ghar Nal Yojana, which is running with the help of the Central government, is being completed about six months before the scheduled time. By getting pure water, people of rural areas will get rid of diseases, while the people of these regions will get over the problem of water. Till now the people of the villages were dependent only on the water received from far-off hand pumps,” the principal secretary said.
Significantly, under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Uttar Pradesh government has so far provided 31.76 lakh water connections out of 2.63 crore families in over 97,000 villages. Not only this, the government has provided 19.15 lakh tap connections in the last financial year. The state government is working on the target of providing 59 lakh tap water connections in the current financial year, 85.40 lakh in the financial year 2022-23, and 90.01 lakh in the financial year 2023-24.
Apart from providing pure drinking water in rural areas of the state, the Har Ghar Nal Yojana of Jal Jeevan Mission will also connect the people of villages and towns with livelihood. In the first phase, more than 30,000 people will be hired on contract in the projects being completed in Bundelkhand and Vindhya region.
Not only this, with the start of the water supply system in villages and towns, fitters, plumbers, mechanics and security guards would also be recruited. The aim of the government is to empower the youth of rural areas and make them self-reliant by connecting them with employment.