The Chhattisgarh Government has provided administrative approval of Rs3.02 crore for implementing a tap water supply project in the insurgency infested Kanker district under the National Drinking Water Programme for the current financial year ( 2014-15).
Notably, on March 10 this year, the Government provided administrative approval of Rs2.81 crore for implementing tap water supply scheme in seven villages of insurgency infested Kondagaon district. It may be recalled that Chhattisgarh has been ranked first in the country for providing domestic water connection in 2014-15 under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), officials claimed.
This is the State’s second major achievement after bagging first position in the country for installing solar pumps, they stated. The Central Government had given a target of 30,000 water connection for the year 2014-15 under the programme the objective of which is to provide pure drinking water to rural people to protect them from water borne diseases.
The State has provided 88,000 domestic water connections in 10 months of 2014-15 and this is more than 50 percent of total domestic connections provided in the State in past 42 years. In total, the number of domestic connections provided in rural areas has crossed the figure of 2.50 lakh.
Notably, it may also be recalled that a Rs2100 crore proposal has also been prepared by Chhattisgarh Government for installation of 300 ‘Water ATMs’ in slum areas of urban bodies of Chhattisgarh. The ‘Water ATM’ will dispense five litres of purified water from RO plant on inserting rupee one coin in the machine, officials said.
Commissioner Urban Administration Rohit Yadav informed this in a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand in the Mantralaya here recently. Dhand later spoke to the divisional commissioners and district collectors through video conferencing and reviewed various schemes and issued necessary directions to them.
Dhand informed in the meeting that the ‘National Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Awareness Week’ will be observed in Chhattisgarh from March 16-22. Dhand had also directed officers to mention on the tank the date on which tank is cleaned and the next date of cleaning (after six months).
The Chief Secretary also reviewed the paddy procurement, rice milling and preparation for purchase of tamarind through forest committees. While reviewing the work of construction of toilets in schools, Dhand directed the district collectors to complete the constructions by March 31 and provide the photographs of constructions at the earliest.
Moreover, the Chhattisgarh Government has installed as many as 83 ‘Reverse Osmosis’ (RO) plants in the regions facing problems of salinity in water used for drinking purposes. This apart, there are now 1,252 plants which remove high iron content from drinking water besides 227 plants clearing away high fluoride content from water supplied to the users in various parts of the State, officials stated.
Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) officials informed that the Government has established 26 district-level laboratories in the State for checking fluoride content in ground water sources. During the last three years, as many as 56,388 samples collected from ground water sources across the state have been examined in the aforesaid 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. In May last year, the State Government has established a total of 105 ‘Flouride Removal Plants’ in settlements of 44 villages in Bastar division.
In September last year, Chief Minister Raman Singh 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 that under ‘Nal-Jal’ scheme nearly 1.74 lakh people residing in several villages of Bemetara, Navagarh and 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.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Government has established a total of 1,881 solar powered pumps in the forest and inaccessible regions for providing safe drinking water to the people residing in such regions.
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.