By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 1 Mar: Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi has instructed all the District Magistrates to ensure water supply, wash basins, toilets in every school, Anganwadi, Panchayat Ghar, Public Wellness Center of the state and to ensure timely testing of the quality of water supplied in every village. Taking cognisance of the cases of jaundice in Pithoragarh district of the state, Additional Chief Secretary Raturi has given instructions for testing and chlorification of wells in all districts including Pithoragarh.
Along with this, she has asked the District Magistrates to settle the forest clearance cases in connection with the Jal Jeevan Mission at the earliest. She made it clear that to complete the Jal Jeevan Mission before March 2024, the District Magistrate should take ownership of this mission and ensure the participation of all district officials in it. She ordered regular monitoring of Jal Jeevan Mission in the districts.
While reviewing the progress of Jal Jeevan Mission at the Secretariat on Wednesday, Additional Chief Secretary Raturi also directed the Drinking Water Department and Jal Sansthan to check the old pipeline passing through the drains in the urban areas of the state. The ACS made it clear to the officials that there should not be any gap between sectioned DPR and completed works in relation to Jal Jeevan Mission. In this regard, she asked the officers to work in proactive mode.
Raturi also instructed the District Magistrates to encourage water quality testing through field testing kits in villages, schools, anganwadis and other community institutions of the state. She also asked the officers to ensure monitoring of the work of third party inspection agencies.
It was stated at the meeting that so far the State has 73.80 percent coverage in the cases of Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) under Jal Jeevan Mission. There are 14, 94, 304 households under it. It is 90 to 100 percent in three districts of the state. There are 2546 villages with water in every house. Total approved DPRs under Jal Jeevan Mission in the state are 16337, out of which 9771 schemes have been completed, costing Rs 1058.29 crore. A total of 2546 villages have been registered under Har Ghar Jal certification, out of which 65 villages have been certified. A target has been set to form a total of 15029 village water and sanitation committees in Uttarakhand, out of which 15024 committees have been formed, which is 99.97 percent of the target. There is a target of pure water supply in 19249 schools in the state, out of which supply has been ensured in 19118 schools, which is 99.32 percent of the target. There is a target of water supply in total 16473 Anganwadis in the state, out of which supply has been ensured in 16407 Anganwadis, which is 99.60 percent of the target. There are a total of 27 labs in the state.
Secretary, Drinking Water, Dr Nitesh Kumar Jha, other high officials and District Magistrates and other officers of various districts were present in the meeting through video conferencing.
