CM Naidu Promises Uninterrupted Safe Drinking Water To All In 3 yrs
Slams previous YSRCP govt for underutilising Jal Jeevan Mission funds, with only Rs 4,235 cr spent out of Rs 27,248 cr allocated
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan at a meeting on drinking water supply at Secretariat at Amaravati on Thursday
CM Naidu calls for the preparation of Detailed Project Reports and the use of SCADA technology to expedite water supply and address leaks
Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said the State government will supply safe drinking water uninterruptedly through taps to every household in the coming three years.
Presiding over a review meeting at the Secretariat here on rural water supply and Jal Jeevan Mission, he said that the NDA government has brought in the Jal Jeevan programme with the sole aim of supplying safe drinking water to every household but the previous government not only destabilised such a significant programme but also miserably failed in getting funds for this. “Of the Rs 27,248 crore of the funds released by the Centre for this programme, the YSRCP government had spent merely Rs 4,235 crore and over 28 lakh houses are yet to be supplied water through tap connections,” he said.
States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala are utilising the Jal Jeevan Mission programme to the maximum extent possible while the works of this programme did not move forward in the State as the then YSRCP government did not release the matching grant, the Chief Minister mentioned. “Steps need to be taken to permanently resolve the drinking water problem. Drinking water was supplied to various villages before 2019 through tap connections as tankers were already built by that time. But the YSRCP which came to power later did not bother to take it further,” Naidu said.
Directing the officials to formulate plans to supply uninterrupted safe drinking water to every household, the Chief Minister felt that pipelines can be built from the nearest reservoirs in the rural areas. He wanted the officials to coordinate with the authorities of the Irrigation Department to know the capacity of water storage and utilisation.
Over 95 lakh houses need to be supplied drinking water now, the Chief Minister said and told the officials to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for giving tap connections to other 28 lakh households. Make the top-level consultants as partners in this programme and utilise the latest technology of SCADA for speedy supply of water and check the leakages.
Naidu said he is keen that when there is no progress in the works already taken up the tenders should be cancelled. He is of the firm opinion that the mistakes committed by the YSRCP government are squarely responsible for the delay in implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
“We will get funds from the Centre by making a request and also by correcting these mistakes and the main target of the State Government is to supply safe water to all households by 2027,” he said.
