It’s early days of the sweltering summer ahead and the Chhattisgarh Government had already started making preparations to ensure drinking water supplies remain uninterrupted in regions not having conventional power supply. The Government which now has an elaborate ‘solar footprint’ in covering areas which cannot have conventional power supply due to various geographical reasons is gearing up to ensure drinking water reaches tribal communities in summers reasons.
In this regard, Chief Minister Raman Singh has directed officials to supply water through solar pumps for ensuring drinking water supply to the Baiga tribe dominated villages in Kawardha region of Kabirdham district. He was reviewing works of different department at the district level in Kawardha recently. The Chief Minister stressed over maintaining drinking water supply during summer season in Kawardha region and directed officials to get filled major water bodies through canals.
Singh said that a meeting of the water consumer society should be convened and accordingly action should be taken in this direction. “For supplying water to Rabi season crop, necessary action should be taken at the level of water consumer society,” he said. Expressing concern over depleting ground water , the Chief Minister asked officials to impose ban over digging of new tube wells.
For construction of bypass road between Bodla and Pandaria block of the district, he asked the District Collector to get the formalities completed soon. The Chief Minister also reviewed the works being undertaken as part of Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojna and Mukhyamantri Gram Sadak Vikas Yojna. Going through the status of new sanctioned roads for the district, he asked the District Collector to convene a meeting of public representatives and start the road construction on a priority basis.
While reviewing works of Agriculture Department, the Chief Minister inquired about procurement of sugarcane from Bhoramdev Cooperative Sugar Mill. Singh while reviewing the City Development Working Plan ordered officials to identify places for construction of new bus stands in Kawardha. Member of Parliament from Rajnandagaon Abhishek Singh along with others officials were also present in the meeting.
Notably, there are 3000 drinking water pumps operated by solar energy have been installed in the State, officials stated. Chhattisgarh ranks first in the country in terms of providing drinking water through solar powered pumps, officials stated. Out of the total number of solar pumps installed in the entire country in financial year 2013-14, nearly 90 per cent of the solar pumps were installed in Chhattisgarh only, they claimed.
The Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) under its ‘Hot Water Supply Scheme’ has established a plant in insurgency infested Kanker district of insurgency infested Bastar region to supply 10,100 litres of hot water per day to the various Government and private establishments. Besides, the agency has also installed a plant to supply 7000 litres of hot water per day in Jungle Warfare Training Centre in the district.
This apart, a total of 30 solar powered equipment had also been installed in the primary health centers besides solar power plants had been established in Koyalibada, Civil Hospital, Pankhajur and at Prime Health Centre, Amabeda. The solar powered equipment had helped during emergencies to operate the deep freezer and other key equipment in the health centers. CREDA has also established a 25 Kw solar energy equipment in the Keshkal valley on Jagdalpur road about 30 kms from the district headquarters which had helped street lights remaining illuminated in the 6 kms length of the valley while preventing accidents.
There are also about 13 villages in the interior parts of Kanker district which cannot receive power supply in the conventional mode which now have solar powered street lights installed in the villages. The installation of the solar powered equipment had benefitted nearly 4,000 families residing in the district. Moreover, by Installing over 1,100 solar pumps, pure and safe water supply has been made available to the inaccessible, non-electrified and tribal areas of the entire State. As they function with solar energy, water supply here is free from any kind of power hindrance.
Along with settlements, availability of clean and safe drinking water has been ensured in schools also. So far, arrangement for clean drinking water has been made in 46,975 schools in the State. In Aanganwadis also, clean drinking water arrangement for children has been made through hand pumps or tap connection. At present, tube-well is the main source of drinking water in villages of the State. Because of irregular rainfall and excessive exploration of ground water, ground water level has been declined in some parts of the State. Quality of water has also been affected.
To deal with this problem and to maintain the ground water level, Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has constructed 39 stop dams, 119 check dams and 19 percolation tanks in various areas of the State. In order to lessen dependability on ground water for drinking , emphasis is being given to supply water from schemes based on surface sources. The Government has been trying to supply clean and pure water to maximum urban and rural population through pipe, in place of hand pumps, officials stated.
At present, through 2,169 Nal-Jal schemes, water supply to more than 43 lakh village population has been done by pipelines, which is 24 per cent of the rural population of the State. Significantly, on rural electrification, as many as 568 remote villages in Chhattisgarh out of the sanctioned 682 were electrified under Central Government’s ‘Remote Village Electrification Programme’ as on March 31, 2014, according to the annual report 2013-14 of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The ‘Remote Village Electrification Programme’ is under implementation across the country for providing financial support for lighting/basic electricity using renewable energy sources in those unelectrified remote census villages, unelectrified hamlets of electrified census villages where grid connectivity is either not feasible or not cost effective and not covered under Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) for grid electrification.
Although a variety of renewable energy technologies are possible for lighting/basic electrification of remote villages including small hydro, biomass and solar energy, yet, solar PV lighting remains the most preferred, it stated. The decision to use a particular technology is taken by the state implementing agencies after examination of the technical feasibility and resource availability.
The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy provides Central Financial Assistance upto 90 per cent of the cost of the renewable energy systems subject to pre specified maximum amount for each technology. The cumulative sanctions of the villages and hamlets under the programme since its inception had reached 13,059. The main states where the programme has greater relevance due to difficulty to access areas are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and North Eastern states, the report stated.
A special priority is provided to villages affected by left Wing Extremism in line with the policy of the Central government, it stated. The identification of the remote villages/villages had been broadly entrusted to the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). The state Governments shortlist unelectrified villages/hamlets in their states which are not likely to be electrified through grid and send their names to the Ministry for verification by the REC for non coverage under RGGVY for grid electrification.