The Chhattisgarh Government has chalked out an elaborate action plan to tackle drinking water supply problems being encountered in the rain deficient regions of the State.
The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) officials informed that 115 Development Blocks in 117 tehsils had been identified as water stressed habitats. The region covers 134 villages and 60,332 habitats.
For this, the government has prepared an action plan involving a cost of Rs 65.29 crore.
The first phase of the drive would be commenced from March 31, 2016 for which an allocation of Rs33.30 crore had been made.
The second phase of the drive would be taken up on April 1, 2016 which would continue till June 15, 2016 for which an allocation of Rs31.99 crore had been made.
Currently a total of 3230 tap water supply schemes have been approved in the State out of which 2587 have been completed.
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.
Notably, 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 itself, they .
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.