The Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) under its ‘Hot Water Supply Scheme’ has established a plant in insurgency infested Kanker district 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. Because of irregular rainfall and excessive exploration of ground water, ground water level has been declined. 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. Moreover, a total of 26 district-level government laboratories have been established in Chhattisgarh for testing the purity of drinking water. During the last three years, 56,388 samples of ground water sources have been examined in these laboratories, officials said. In the areas, where iron-ore, fluoride or impurities were found in the samples, safe drinking water is being supplied by establishing necessary purification plants. A total of 1,252 iron deterrent plants, 227 fluoride resistant plants and 83 reverse osmosis plants had been established in the State for supply of pure and safe drinking water after removing unwanted minerals present in the ground water.
Under the ‘National Rural Drinking Water Mission’, a target has been set to supply water to all families of at least 50 per cent villages through ‘Nal Jal Yojana’ by 2017. With the set target, 35 per cent families will get water through private tap connection, 20 per cent from public tap and 45 per cent through hand pumps. In the second phase of the Mission, 90 per cent rural families will get water supply through ‘Nal Jal Yojana’ by 2022.
It is a great challenge before a welfare-oriented Government to arrange pure and safe drinking water to the fast increasing population, officials said. The State government has implemented this challenging task in a better way. All settlements in the State are getting drinking water, without any hindrance. Through 2.44 lakh hand pumps, 2,414 tap water connections and 2,628 local water supply schemes, clean drinking water is now reaching to people residing in villages, cities and forest areas of Chhattisgarh. looking to the consistently increasing population, about 46,000 hand pumps have been installed during the last five years.
The State government had allotted Rs 260 crore for supply of clean and safe drinking water in rural areas of the State in all districts during the last two years.
Under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, along with supply of clean drinking water, check dams and percolation tanks have been constructed in rural areas to maintain the groundwater level, officials informed.
The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has been taking up samples of water sources for examination, establishment of fluoride eradication plants and drinking water supply through solar pumps, under the scheme. For the implementation of National Rural Drinking Water Programme the PHED has sanctioned Rs 146.74 crore to districts during 2012-13 and Rs 113.28 crore during 2013-14.
During the financial year 2013-14, Rs 13 crore has been given to Rajnandgaon district, Rs 9.76 crore to Bastar, Rs 9.76 crore to Jashpur, Rs 8 crore to Kanker, Rs 6.81 crore to Kabirdham, Rs 4.54 crore to Raigarh, Rs 4.53 crore to Sarguja, Rs 4.23 crore to Bilaspur, Rs 3.88 crore to Korea, Rs 3.74 crore to Gariyaband, Rs 3.61 crore to Dantewada, Rs 3.46 crore to Bijapur, Rs 3.35 crore to Dhamtari, Rs 3.24 crore to Balodabazar, Rs 3.10 crore to Balod, Rs 3 crore to Kondagaon, Rs 3 crore to Korba, Rs 2.75 crore Mahasamund, Rs 2.73 crore to Janjgir-Champa, Rs 2.59 crore to Balrampur, Rs 2.53 crore to Surajpur, Rs 2.20 crore to Raipur, Rs 2.20 crore to Bemetara, Rs 1.84 crore to Durg and Narayanpur, Rs 1.74 crore to Sukma and Rs 1.69 for Mungeli district have been allotted for the implementation of National Rural Drinking Water Programme. For the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, Rs 148.64 crore was received from the Central government in the year 2012-13 and Rs 119.81 crore in 2013-14.