'Making of 2.4l toilets in 169 units was challenging'

Construction of 2.4 lakh toilets in 169 urban local units was a challenging task for the Chhattisgarh Government but able political leadership and administrative responsibilities helped the State in preparing an action plan to eliminate open defecation, Principal Secretary of Chhattisgarh’s Urban Administration Department R P Mandal said on the second day of workshop on Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT Mission organised in Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Friday.

A total of 5 lakh toilets were constructed in the first year, he said.Mandal informed that the State Government had earlier constructed 12 lakh toilets in the State under ‘Nirmal Gram Yojna’ but the response was unsatisfactory.He said that a meeting of all administrative officials of divisional headquarters, representatives of municipal units and members of self-help groups was called to ascertain reasons behind villagers’ reluctance to use toilets.Over 500 mayors from across the country attended the workshop.

Mandal gave a detailed presentation on the Chhattisgarh’s action plan to make it open defecation free.Chhattisgarh has been making an all out effort to eliminate the practice of open defecation from the State, he said.Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, mayors and commissioners of Municipal Corporations from across the country participated in the event.

In the meeting, non-availability of water and mandatory for all to use these toilets were identified as the main reasons.The Chhattisgarh State Cabinet then decided to provide tap connection and toilets in each house, MandalHe said that water was made available through solar tube wells in 14 Naxal affected regions of the State including Bhopalpatnam, Konta, Bijapur, Dantewada, where it was not possible to facilitate water-supply through Nal-Jal Scheme.

Notably,The Chhattisgarh State Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has installed as many as 251 new solar powered pumps in various districts in rural pockets of Chhattisgarh, officials in Raipur stated.The Department also installed a total of 8,950 new hand pumps during 2014-15 under the National Rural Drinking Water Mission in the rural pockets of the State.

There were a total of 10,373 tube wells dug up by the Department in the entire State out of which 8,950 wells were declared successful.During the last financial year, 1,034 new hand pumps were established in rural schools and 1,881 in Anganwadis.As many as 141 new tube wells were dug in the urban pockets of the State out of which 126 were declared successful during the last financial year.

Chhattisgarh ranks first in the country in terms of providing drinking water through solar powered pumps, they 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 itself, they claimed.An amount of Rs 65.28 crore has been spent on 6503 pure and safe drinking water schemes by the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) during the past six years in Bastar district.

About 6449 drinking water schemes have been already completed and people are getting safe and pure drinking water, officials stated.The drinking water projects have been sanctioned during the fiscal 2009-10 and 2014-15. The projects include installation of 6372 hand-pumps, 91 spot source scheme, 39 Nal-Jal Yojana and one water procurement project.

The Public Health Engineering Department spent Rs 54.72 crore on installation of hand-pumps in Bastar district, Rs 5.77 crore on Nal-Jalyojana, Rs 3.80 crore on spot source scheme and Rs One crore on water procurement project.Notably, Chief Minister Raman Singh has said that the State government has set a target of providing two lakh domestic tap water connections in the rural pockets of Chhattisgarh during the next one year.

Moreover, in view of the summer season, the Chief Minister directed all the district collectors and officials of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) to pay special attention to provision of drinking water in all public places in the State.He said that during the last financial year (2014-15), a total of 94,400 domestic tap water connections were provided in the villages through 2,400 ‘Nal-Jal’ schemes.

The Chief Minister said that with the new financial year beginning April 1, a budget provision of Rs 862 crore had been made for ensuring better drinking water facilities in the State.