New Delhi, 24 December: The central government has brought the Atal Jal Yojana related to water management in 8350 villages of seven states. It will be launched on December 25, the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A total of 6 thousand crore rupees will be spent on the project, out of which 3 thousand crore rupees will be given by the World Bank and the rest of the Central Government.
In the meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, the proposals related to Atal Water and Atal Tunnel Project and Atal Medical Center were approved.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said in a press conference held after the cabinet meeting that the government is bringing two projects on Atal ji’s birthday. He said that 62 percent of the irrigation in the country is through ground water. In addition, 85 percent of the drinking water in rural areas comes from ground water.
He said that these schemes have been brought in to ensure proper management of water in the country, increase the efficiency of the infrastructure facilities and better use of water. For this, 8350 villages of these seven states that inlude, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka have been fixed.
It will work together with the public and farmers. Safety of water and its economical use will be ensured.
Apart from this, the tunnel from Manali to Leh has been named Atal Tunnel. Javadekar said that it was conceived in 2003 and was approved in 2005. However, 80 percent work has been completed of this tunnel from Lahaul to Spiti(The Lahaul and Spiti district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh consists of the two formerly separate districts of Lahaul and Spiti). This will save a distance of 46 km and a time of 5 hours. For this further work, the government has sanctioned 4 thousand crores rupees.
He informed that the first tunnel to be built at an altitude above 10 thousand feet will be 8.8 km.
Apart from this, tomorrow Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Lucknow on the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Atal Medical Center will be launched here.
