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Top World Bank official drinks tap water in B’khand, praises Uttar Pradesh
Executive director-designate of World Bank Parameswaran Iyer was verifying implementation of ‘Har Ghar Jal (water in each home)’ scheme in Bundelkhand region
Executive director-designate of World Bank (WB), Parameswaran Iyer, drank water from a tap in a Jhansi village on Monday to verify the implementation of the ‘Har Ghar Jal (water in each home)’ in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh.
Iyer, a former IAS officer who was appointed executive director of the World Bank last week, in a series of tweets said later, “Great to be in Bundelkhand, the driest region in UP and see how the Jal Jeevan Mission is delivering Har Ghar Jal. At a house in village Purwa in Jhansi, I drank clean tap water. I recall Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching this transformational programme in 2019.”
“The U.P. government is rapidly implementing the Jal Jeevan Mission in arid Bundelkhand. Impressed by women Paani Samitis that are carrying out water quality testing,” he added.
The women Paani Samiti is a 5-member team of women in each U.P. village where the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ mission is being implemented. These teams check the quality of water and Iyer interacted with the women who are part of it.
After checking the water quality, the Paani Samiti women upload details of water quality on the Jal Jeevan Mission portal and Iyer spent time with them to understand how they function.
Iyer also visited water treatment plant at Ghatkotra. During his visit to various Bundelkhand villages, Iyer also interacted with locals who told him how availability of clean drinking water on their doorstep had made a difference in their lives.
At several villages, Iyer stopped for random interaction. “Have you started getting clean drinking water,” he asked as the villagers responded positively. How many times in a day do you get water supply? “Twice,” the villagers said. So how are you feeling now? “Very good,” said the women villagers.
He also praised the team of officers that has been working to make the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ mission successful. Present on the occasion were principal secretary, rural water supply and Namami Gange Anurag Srivastava, MD, Jal Nigam (rural) Balkar Singh, Jhansi DM Ravindra Kumar among various others.
