Lucknow, 06 November: The decade-long struggle of the villagers of Bundelkhand and Vindhya region for drinking water is going to end. Villagers will no longer have to carry drinking water from miles away. The state government is going to start door-to-door supply of potable water in the villages of Bundelkhand and Vindhya region from December.
However, the preparations for this are in the final stages. Trial runs have been started in many areas.
Along with starting water supply in Bundelkhand and Vindhya region, the work of “Har Ghar Nal Yojana” has also been intensified in more than two dozen districts like Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur and Mathura. Water supply will be started in most of these districts by March 2022.
Years of waiting for thousands of villages of Uttar Pradesh to get pure drinking water is going to end in a few days. Yogi government is going to provide pure drinking water from next month under the “Jal Jeevan Mission scheme”. The work of laying pipelines to remote rural areas in the state including Bundelkhand and Vindhya region has been completed. Along with this, pure drinking water supply lines have also been laid to the houses.
Principal Secretary Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply Department Anurag Srivastava have reviewed the preparations to start water supply. Along with regular monitoring of the functioning of water treatment plants, he has directed to check the water lines laid at various levels.
He has directed to stop the leakage and wastage of water in the waterline at any cost.
Water supply works are on the verge of completion in most of the villages of Bundelkhand. The “Har Ghar Nal Yojana”, which is running in collaboration with the Central Government, is being completed about six months ahead of schedule. By getting pure water, people of rural areas will get rid of diseases, while the problem of water will also go away. Till now the people of the villages were dependent only on the water received from far-off hand pumps.
A spokesperson of the state government apprised that under the “Jal Jeevan Mission”, the Uttar Pradesh government has so far provided water connections to 31.76 lakh out of 2.63 crore families in about 97 and a half thousand villages. Not only this, the government has provided 19.15 lakh tap connections in the last financial year. The state government is working on the target of providing 59 lakh tap water connections in the current financial year, 85.40 lakh in the financial year 2022-23 and 90.01 lakh in the financial year 2023-24.
Water will reach 72.6 lakh population of Bundelkhand and 40.45 lakh population of Vindhya
According to the spokesman, a total of 467 piped drinking water schemes have been implemented in 32 projects under Jal Jeevan Mission in Bundelkhand region. Of these, 43 are surface water based schemes and 424 are ground water based. Through these schemes, arrangements will be made for 1195265 functional home water connections for a total population of 7268705 of 3823 revenue villages.
He further told that pure water will be supplied to a total of 1195265 households. These projects will benefit 40 tehsils, 68 development blocks and 2608 gram panchayats of 07 districts of Bundelkhand region, while there are total 162 piped drinking water schemes under 17 projects under Jal Jeevan Mission in Vindhya region.
“There are 22 surface water based schemes and 140 ground water based schemes. Under these schemes, 6,69,508 functional house water connections (FHTCs) have been provided for a total population of 40,45,943 of 2,961 revenue villages and this will supply pure drinking water to a total of 6,69,508 households,” He stated.
Jal Jeevan Mission will give employment to youth along with water
He said that apart from providing pure drinking water in rural areas of the state, ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ of Jal Jeevan Mission would also connect the people of villages and towns with employment.
He told reporters that in the first phase, more than 30 thousand people will be hired on contract in the projects being completed in Bundelkhand and Vindhya region.
“Along with the operation of water supply system in villages and towns, fitters, plumbers, mechanic and security guards will also be recruited. The aim of the government is to empower the youth of rural areas and make them self-reliant by connecting them with employment,” he concluded.
