Potable water will be supplied to 1,722 settlements in the ten Naxalite-affected district of Chhattisgarh through solar energy powered pumps. These ten districts are included in the Integrated Action Plan (IAP).
In the State-level drinking water projects review meeting organized under the chairmanship of Public Health Engineering Minister Kedar Kashyap here on Sunday, the departmental officers said that Central Government had sanctioned Rs 20 crore for 960 of the total 1722 settlements for solar energy pumps, on the proposal of the state Government. Parliamentary secretary Mahesh Gagda and PHED secretary Ganesh Shankar Mishra were also present at the meeting.
They said that solar pumps would be installed at the rural settlements of Jagadalpur, Kanker, Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Sarguja, Korea, Joshpur, Kabirdham and Rajnandgaon districts which were included in the IAP.
In the review meeting, Minister Kedar Kashyap instructed all the officers concerned to speed up the implementation of all other potable water schemes, along with group water supply schemes. looking to the monsoon season make all possible efforts made to maintain purity of water drawn from hand pumps and supplied through Nal Jal schemes, he added.
Kashyap said to speed up the filtration work of water from hand pumps and Nal Jal schemes in the recent flood-hit villages.
Secretary Ganesh Shankar Mishra told the officers to send action taken report as per the minutes of the meeting within 15 days.
He said that under the complete cleanliness campaign, process to declare 300 villages of the state Nirmal Gram has been started. Under the campaign, water from its sources would be tested with Victoria and chemicals, he added.
Minister Kashyap and secretary Mishra took umbrage over the slow progress in the digging of tube wells under the drinking water schemes in Bastar district.