140 crore has been spent to provide drinking water facility to 2464 habitation

Shimla--A sum of Rupees 140 crore has been spent to provide drinking water facility to 2464 habitation in the current financial year. This was revealed by Irrigation and Public Health Minister, Sh. Ravinder Singh Ravi while presiding over the review meeting of the department here today. All the Chief Engineers and Superintendent Engineers of the state attended the meeting.

He said that to ensure adequate water to the people especially in water scarcity areas, the setting up of hand pumps have been given priority. As many as 22278 hand pumps have been installed so far to provide safe drinking water to the people of the State and 1620 hand pumps were installed during the current financial year. Besides, under Jalmani Programme of the State Government, Water Purification System based on UV technology were installed in 785 schools in rural areas in the year 2008-09 and the same were provided in 464 such schools up to march 2010. 2370 schools had been targeted for the coverage under Jalmani Programme for 2010-11.

Sh. Ravi said that Himachal Pradesh had provided safe tap drinking water to 84 percent habitation in the State, surpassing the National average by around 20 percent. The Minister exhorted all the officers to ensure coverage of targeted habitations and desired that department should forge ahead with new innovative techniques to bring more efficiency together with delivery of drinking water to every household in the State. He said that the department was endeavouring to go ahead with three or four projects on Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis and if private capital could be utilised for the job particularly in rural areas of the State, the department would respond to such policy initiatives and reforms.

Undertaking a detailed review of various IPH circles, the Minister stressed upon utilising the remaining amount of Rupees 39 crore allocated to the districts of Chamba and Sirmaur for various drinking water and irrigation schemes.
The Minister also reviewed the progress of ongoing Irrigation schemes and those under NABARD. He said that the grievances of the people should be addressed on priority and the online grievances should be responded immediately. The officers should note down the Chief Ministers announcements and should implement them in a right way without delay.

The Minister directed the officers to carry on rejuvenation and repairs on Irrigation channel and traditional water bodies in the State. He also urged the officers to prepare a directory of water sources present in the State soon to streamline the working of the department. He said that Flood Control measures should be given priority and the department should seriously work on constructing Water Harvesting Structure. He asked them to expedite the works on various schemes and prepare a detailed note of them much before hand.

A presentation was also given by RAMKY Enviro Engineers Limited on development of Water Security Plan and the infrastructural development to assess the performance of water supply and availability to ascertain that every house was provided drinking water facility.

Sh. Narinder Chauhan, Principal Secretary, IPH, Engineer-in-Chief Sh. R.K. Sharma were also present in the meeting amongst other senior officers of Department.

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