Seriously considering the problem of water salinity in 98 villages of Bemetara district, Chief Minister Raman Singh has approved two projects worth Rs101.47 crores for supplying safe water in the villages.
“Very soon the project will be commenced in the district,” officials stated.Two group water supply projects will be implemented through the approved budget for the projects.Meanwhile, the officials have directed to start the construction works under the scheme soon. He informed that the project will cover 41 villages in Saja block and Rs38.25 Crore has been sanctioned for it. Similarly for 57 villages falling in Bemetara block Rs63.22 Crore has been provided.
In September this year, Chief Minister Raman had approved Rs190 crore under the State Government’s ‘Nal-Jal Scheme’ for eliminating salinity in water supply being made to nearly 152 villages of Bemetara district from Shivnath River.The PHED officials informed in a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister that the 'Nal-Jal' scheme is the biggest in the country formulated to solve the problem of salinity in water supply made to the villages.
Under this scheme, nearly 1.74 lakh villages of Bemetara block, 54 villages of Navagarh and 41 villages of Saja block will be benefitted.Under the scheme, 751 km of pipelines and 139 overhead tanks will be facilitated to ensure the supply of safe drinking water in villages.This apart, the State Government's Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) have established as many as 227 ‘fluoride prevention plants’ to ensure supply of safe drinking water in fluoride-affected regions of Chhattisgarh.
PHED officials informed here that the Government has established 26 district-level laboratories in the State for checking fluoride content in ground water sources.In three years, as many as 56,388 samples collected from groundwater resources across the State have been examined in these laboratories. Out of these, 328 samples were found high in fluoride content.
The Government spent more than Rs5.62 crore during 2012-13 for implementation of various schemes formulated for ensuring safe drinking water to the people living in fluoride affected areas.The number of samples tested for fluoride content in each of the district-level laboratories established in 26 districts of the State are as follows- 7,541 in Jashpur district, 5,495 in Ambikapur district, 5,102 in Sukma district, 4,292 in Durg district, 3,754 in Rajnandgaon district, 3,386 in Raipur district, 3,365 in Narayanpur district, 3,253 in Kabeerdham district, 2711 in Korba district, 2,431 in Dhamtari district, 2,258 in Bilaspur district, 1,876 in Bijapur district, 1,788 in Koriya district, 1,731 in Dantewada district, 1,466 in Kanker district, 1,387 in Raigarh district, 1,079 in Bastar district, 922 in Janjgir Champa district, 547 in Balrampur-Ramanujganj district, 500 in Gariaband district, 420 Bemetara district, 388 in Mahasamund district, 373 in Mungeli district, 183 in Balod district and 144 in Surajpur district.