Govt issues norms for drinking water supply in summer
The state government on Monday issued special guidelines to ensure drinking water supply across Rajasthan.
The government has asked the public health engineering department (PHED) officials to go out in the field to solve people’s problems related to drinking water. It also sanctioned budget for supply of water by tankers in the rural and urban areas.
PHED principal secretary Rajat Kumar Mishra held a meeting with chief engineers and additional chief engineers to take stock of the department’s preparations to ensure smooth drinking water supply in the summer. Mishra told the officers that the government will not tolerate laxity on the issue.
According to the guidelines, chief engineers and additional chief engineers of all districts have been made nodal officers to resolve problems related to water on the spot during field visits. The officers have been told to transport water from tankers in areas where the facility for drinking water is unavailable. The government sanctioned ₹2,394 lakh for the rural areas and ₹2195.88 lakh for the urban area for water supply through tankers, a release from the department stated.
Moreover, instructions have been issued to ensure water transport in 13 scarcity-hit districts using the state disaster relief fund (SDRF).
Currently, more than 2,000 tankers are supplying water in 16 cities by making 203 trips daily. Similarly, in 1,082 villages and hamlets, 1,000 tankers make 887 trips everyday to ensure supply of water. Officers have been asked to increase the trips, if required.
Realising that hand pumps are the mainstay of water supply in villages, the 42nd hand pump repair campaign began on April 1 across the state. For this, approvals for 2,500 contractual staff and hiring of 531 vehicles were granted earlier.
In 2017-18, 215,470 hand pumps in rural areas and 35,337 hand pumps in the urban areas were repaired. Additionally, 2,674 hand pumps were installed in the urban areas and 5,795 in the rural areas in 2017-18.
JAIPUR: JAIPUR:Rajasthan