Work commences on 71 multi-village drinking water schemes addressing groundwater issues
Chief Minister directs wide publicity of PHE Department’s toll-free number for quick drinking water issue resolution
Jal Jeevan Mission: Tap water reaches 39.14 lakh households, 78 per cent target achieved
Raipur (thestates.news) | Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Deo Sai is chairing review meetings aimed at enhancing good governance, ensuring effective scheme implementation, and strengthening departmental operations across the state. He has been reviewing the works of different departments for the third consecutive day today. He reviewed the progress of the Public Health Engineering Department today, along with Deputy Chief Minister Shri Arun Sao, Chief Secretary Shri Amitabh Jain, officials from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Jal Jeevan Mission, and departmental officials.
During the meeting, he stressed the need for strong arrangements to ensure clean drinking water availability throughout the state during the upcoming rainy season. He also called for widespread publicity of the PHE department’s toll-free number 1800-233-0008 to promptly address drinking water-related complaints. He emphasized the importance of effective implementation of public welfare schemes at the grassroots level. He urged the acceleration of the Jal Jeevan Mission’s initiatives to achieve 100 per cent coverage of pure drinking water supply via pipelines to every household in the state at the earliest. With the rainy season approaching, he instructed quick completion of maintenance and repair tasks for the water supply systems to ensure purity. Besides, he directed the prompt initiation of training programmes for ‘Nal Jal Mitras’ to be appointed in villages under the Jal Jeevan Mission, utilizing skill development centers. He also instructed prompt submission of proposals for new recruitments to increase the technical staff within the department.
Chief Minister Shri Sai has directed to expedite the work of 71 multi-village schemes under the Jal Jeevan Mission, specifically targeting villages grappling with issues like saline water, heavy elements in groundwater, and declining water levels. The multi-village schemes, initiated across 18 districts of the state, represent a significant investment totaling Rs 4527 crore. These projects aim to provide pure drinking water to 3234 villages, benefiting over 10 lakh households with clean and safe water delivered through pipelines.
During the review meeting, Deputy Chief Minister and Public Health Engineering Minister Shri Arun Sao highlighted the necessity of promptly formulating an operation-maintenance policy for sustaining the drinking water systems in Jal Jeevan Mission villages. He stressed the importance of constructing essential infrastructure through MNREGA to recharge water sources. Shri Sao urged the Chief Minister to approve new multi-village schemes funded by the state for villages facing challenges where groundwater sources are not available for drinking water supply, suggesting financing options through CSR or DMF. Besides, he pointed out the urgency of procuring new drilling machines to expedite the installation of tube wells within the department.
In the meeting, Public Health Engineering Secretary Shri Mohammad Qaiser Abdulhaque stated that clean and safe drinking water has been successfully delivered via pipelines to over 39.14 lakh households in the state. Jal Jeevan Mission has achieved more than 78 per cent of its target so far. Specifically, tap water now reaches 100 per cent of households in 3356 villages, 90 per cent to 100 per cent in 5093 villages, and 80per cent to 90 per cent in 3153 villages. To ensure the smooth operation of water supply systems in villages, Shri Abdulhaque mentioned plans to appoint ‘Nal Jal Mitras’ through Panchayats. He noted that 33 master trainers from the state have been trained by the Government of India for this purpose.
Chief Minister’s Advisor Dr Dhirendra Tiwari, Chief Minister’s Secretary Shri P Dayanand, CREDA CEO Shri Rajesh Singh Rana, Jal Jeevan Mission MD Shri Sunil Jain, Public Health Engineering Department Engineer-In-Chief Shri ML Agrawal, and other senior officials from the department attended the meeting.
