‘All schools must be covered under ‘Jal Swapno’ by Dec’

KOLKATA: Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi on Tuesday instructed the Public Health and Engineering (PHE) department to ensure that all the schools in Bengal are covered under the ‘Jal Swapno’ project by end of December.

About 25 per cent of the 25,000 schools in different districts are already covered under the scheme in which the state has set a target of supplying tap water connections to 1 crore 77 lakh families by 2024 under this project rolled out from July 6, 2020. Dwivedi held a review meeting and took stock of work related to ten departments, including PHE, Water Resources and Investigation, MSME, Tourism, Agriculture, Information and Cultural Affairs (I&CA), Panchayats and Rural Development, Health and Family Welfare, Land and Land Reforms, Public Works Department (PWD). The district magistrates attended the meeting virtually.

The health centres, panchayat offices, all types of prayer halls, Anganwadi centres, ICDS centres, schools (primary, secondary, higher secondary) have been included in ‘Jal Swapno’ project. According to Nabanna sources, the chief secretary expressed his concern over exorbitant medical bills charged by a section of private health care providers under ‘Swastha Sathi’ scheme, particularly in Murshidabad and Malda districts. The district administration and the respective CMOHs have been asked to take action against such practice under the Clinical Establishment Act.

The MSME department has been asked to take necessary steps so that the first set of school uniforms is distributed by August end. The state government hands over school uniforms to students from preprimary till class VIII.

The chief secretary also instructed the concerned officials of Land and the Land Reforms department to take action against those involved in fake land deeds and take immediate action for rectification. He also directed constituting a district-level panel to oversee the issue with several complaints coming before the government. The Tourism department has been asked to identify land near the tourist spots so that shops for souvenir items can be set up.

Dwivedi was informed that the ‘Matir Shristi’ scheme in the six western districts—Bankura, West Midnapore, Jhargram, West Burdwan, Purulia and Birbhum has already covered 3469 hectares of land. The Panchayats department has been asked to take up work on 56 major rural roads across the state on a war footing.

The Panchayats department has been asked to take up work on 56 major rural roads across the state on a war footing