No problem of drinking water during summer: Chouhan

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that there should be no problem of drinking water in any urban body and panchayat area during summer. Mark the places where hand pumps are not functioning due to the water level going down and boring should be done there immediately.

Necessary alternative arrangements should be made in urban bodies where there is a problem of drinking water.

Chouhan was addressing a review meeting of the status of drinking water in urban and rural areas in the Mantralaya. Urban Development and Housing Minister Bhupendra Singh, Minister of State for Public Health and Engineering Brajendra Singh Yadav attended the meeting online. Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains, along with officials of Public Health Engineering, Urban and Housing and Panchayat and Rural Development were present in the meeting held in the Mantralaya.

Chouhan instructed that projects should be implemented on priority basis under the Jal Jeevan Mission in the urban bodies where water is being supplied at intervals of one or more days. Chouhan inquired about the status of the approved projects in Burhanpur and Niwari under the Jal Jeevan Mission and directed to complete all the projects sanctioned in the mission, including these schemes.

It was informed in the meeting that more than 95 percent hand pumps are operational out of 5 lakh 54 thousand 25 hand pumps installed in the state. There is a problem in 20,580 hand pumps because the water level has gone down. Out of 16 thousand 561 tap water schemes set up in rural areas, 15,630 schemes are operational.

Alternative arrangements have been made for drinking water at other places. Out of 407 urban bodies in the state, water is being supplied daily in 351 of them and on alternate days in 56. Grievance Redressal Cells have been set up for hand pump repair in all districts. Work on long-term plans is underway along with providing immediate relief for water supply in problematic urban areas.