SIGH OF RELIEF: 291 VILLAGES AFFECTED WITH ARSENIC & HEAVY METALS TO GET POTABLE WATER BY NEXT MONTH
Chandigarh, February 6:
Stepping towards to ensure potable piped water supply in all rural households in the state, Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation department is setting up arsenic and iron removal plants/ individual household units or ROs plants in those villages where groundwater quality is affected with arsenic, fluoride and other heavy metals. 291 villages of nine districts-Amritsar, Patiala, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar,Tarn Taran, Kapurthala, Ludhiana and SBS Nagar- will get potable water supply by March 2021. Notably, arsenic and iron removal plants have already been setup in 102 villages of Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur districts.
Arsenic and iron removal plants are being set up in 131villages, suffering from quality affected water, of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur districts at a cost of Rs.38.62crore. A project has already been executed with a cost of Rs.22.28 crore and 1,38,959 people of 102 villages have benefitted from it. Projects in the remaining villages would be completed by March 2021.
A project has been prepared to provide potable water supply immediately to 54 villages of Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur districts, where water quality is arsenic affected and canal based water supply schemes are likely to be completed in next 2 years. Under this project, a Decentralized Individual Arsenic Purification Unit will be provided to every household. This purification unit is based on the technology developed by IIT, Madras. The cost of the project is Rs.4.85 crore. Prior to the implementation of the project, a successful trial was conducted in a village Radalke in Tarn Taran district. This project will also be executed by March this year.
Similarly, RO plants are being installed in 106 villages of Patiala, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala, Ludhiana and SBS Nagar districts at a cost of Rs.15.26crore and this project will also be completed by March 2021.
Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Razia Sultana said that the Water Supply and Sanitation Department has launched various schemes to provide clean water to the villages. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh inaugurated 112 projects under “Har Ghar Pani, Har Ghar Safai” mission at a cost of Rs.255 crore, while dedicating 154 projects to the people at a cost of Rs.52 crore. Punjab’s first ‘Central Water Treatment Plant’ at village Daudhar is providing clean water supply to 67,000 households of 85 villages in Moga district, she added.
