For Iqbal Mohammad, a resident of Umnia gram panchayat of Rath block of Hamirpur district of Bundelkhand, the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Namami Gange Programme and Har Ghar Nal Yojana, have come as a boon for the people of the region, tackling collectively various water related issues that the region traditionally battled with such as drought, lack of safe drinking water and lack of jobs.
Mohammad, a labourer who has got employment in his own village under Jal Jeevan Mission, said: “The programme has solved many of our problems. Today, we are getting pure drinking water, which is protecting us from diseases. Besides, I have got the job of a pump operator, which has increased my income. I thank the government for all this. ”
Iqbal Mohammad’s job is to operate the pump in the morning and evening to ensure uninterrupted supply of water to villagers. He is one of the thousands of people who are not only getting safe tap water under Jal Jeevan Mission, but are also being provided jobs of motor mechanics, fitters, electricians and masons under the projects.
Echoing him, another resident, Pyar Khan, said that the drinking water project of Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply department was going to prove to be a milestone for villages of Bundelkhand region. “Lakhs of people, who had been facing water shortage for decades, have started getting pure drinking water today because of the project. There was a time when clamouring for water among people residing in dozens of villages of Maudaha area was a routine affair. But, today we are seeing a big change in our lives due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the state,” he remarked.
With the efforts of the Yogi government, the Jal Jeevan Mission has brought new hope to the villages of Gohand, Rath, Muskura and Sarila blocks of Hamirpur, which fall in the drought-prone areas of Bundelkhand. There is no sign of a river in the 40 km radius of these villages and the groundwater level goes down soon after it rains and lack of pure drinking water used to be a perennial problem in the region. But now water has started reaching every household in the region through taps.
Under the supervision of the Yogi government, drinking water is being supplied from the water tanks set up under Namami Gange and the solar energy-powered projects of the Rural Water Supply department.
Earlier, the advent of summer used to ring alarm bells across the drought-prone Bundelkhand region. In the absence of rivers and ponds drying up in extreme heat, wells were the only source of drinking water for people. However, when in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission was announced, the Yogi Adityanath government resolved to take its benefits to every village, especially those falling in the nine districts of Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions. It is the result of Yogi government's continuous monitoring of the scheme that tap water has reached every household of the drought-prone Hamirpur district today.
As part of the project, tube well powered solar base groundwater projects were started for people facing water crisis. A solar-powered water tank of 50,000 litres has been built in Umnia gram panchayat of Rath block wherein a 250 litre water tank is filled per minute by a solar powered motor.
Tap connections were given from this tank to two revenue villages – Umnia and Churwa – by laying a network of pipelines. Similar efforts were made in other villages as well under the guidance of Chief Minister Yogi. Water supply is started in the morning and evening with the help of solar power available for six and a half hours in the afternoon through the solar plant.