Bhopal: Minister for Public Health Engineering Sukhdev Panse has informed that 1150 Nal-Jal schemes costing Rs 1035 crore have been approved to supply drinking water in rural areas of the state in the year 2019-20. An administrative sanction has been issued for 350 schemes, DPR of 210 schemes has been prepared and DPR of 635 schemes is under process. He mentioned that along with this, efforts are being made to complete 674 under progress tap-water schemes till the month of October.
PHE Minister Panse has further informed that responsibility for maintenance of tap-water schemes for 2 years is being given to contractors along with the implementation of schemes. During the implementation of these schemes itself, domestic tap water connection are also being provided to the concerned villages and settlements.
Panse said that in order to ensure sufficient drinking water management in rural areas, the state government has taken a decision to obtain cooperation from private organizations through outsourcing. He informed that there are about 5.28 lakh hand pumps in rural areas and shortage of departmental technicians had become obstacle to keep them in working condition continuously. Therefore, as an innovation, outsourcing arrangement has been made.