Surface water supply for arsenic-hit villages

CM launches ‘Har Ghar Pani, Har Ghar Safai’ mission | To benefit 1.6 lakh residents of 155 areas

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 1

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday virtually launched the ‘Har Ghar Pani, Har Ghar Safai’ mission, as part of the government’s campaign to achieve the goal of 100 per cent potable piped water supply in rural households by March next year.

The Chief Minister inaugurated Mega Surface Water Supply Scheme, covering 85 villages in Moga district, 144 new water supply schemes for 172 villages, 121 arsenic and iron removal plants (35 inaugurated and 86 recently completed). The scheme will benefit more than 1.6 lakh residents of 155 villages in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur districts by replacing groundwater with surface water supply for drinking, besides resolving the problem of arsenic-affected habitations.

Terming safe drinking water as the government’s top priority, the Chief Minister said the Congress government had spent an average of Rs 920 crore annually on water supply and sanitation schemes, as against a mere Rs 219 crore expended by the previous SAD-BJP government.

Expressing concern over 1,634 quality-affected habitations, he directed the Water Supply and Sanitation Department to replace groundwater with surface water supply. He also launched a project to provide immediate relief to 54 villages in the border belt with high arsenic concentration in groundwater (more than 50 ppb). The Rs 4.85-crore project, to be completed by April 2021, will work on the nano material-based adsorption technology of IIT, Madras.

Community-based RO plants were also launched by the Chief Minister at Rs 9.7 crore to provide potable water in 106 fluoride-affected villages. He laid the foundation stone of 75 rural water supply schemes, procured and allotted at Rs 39.56 crore.

He dedicated 68 recently commissioned rural water supply schemes constructed/upgraded at Rs 29.74 crore, while inaugurating another 76 water supply schemes worth Rs 42.06 crore.

Captain Amarinder also laid the foundation stone of 1,557 community sanitary complexes for 1,545 villages. The sanitary complexes will be built, operated and maintained by the gram panchayats, for which Rs 32.7 crore has been disbursed.

Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Razia Sultana said all multi-village canal water-based supply schemes were being allotted on a design-build-operate-transfer basis and the contractor would be responsible for the operation and maintenance of these schemes for 10 years. The projects would likely be completed by December 2022, she said.