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Work in full swing, Bundelkhand villagers in Uttar Pradesh to get piped water in December
The project was earlier scheduled to be completed in December 2022 but the Uttar Pradesh government has directed the construction agency to expedite the work in Jhansi district to start piped water supply to 648 villages in December this year.
The residents of Budhpura village, 30 kilometres south of Jhansi in the drought-prone Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, are eagerly waiting for the supply of piped drinking water to their households.
The construction of a water treatment plant, overhead tank and intake well is in full swing in the village under the Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal (piped water for every household) scheme for the supply of piped drinking water.
The residents of Budhpura, as well as 61 other villages, will get piped drinking water with the launch of the scheme in Budhpura village cluster in December, said BK Latoria, consultant engineer (drinking water project).
The supply was earlier scheduled to begin in December 2022, he added. But the state government has directed the construction agency to expedite the construction work in Jhansi district to start supply to 648 villages in December this year, he said.
The 10 village clusters to be covered by the scheme in Jhansi district include Gulara, Bacheli, Tilaitha, Budhpura, Imlouta, Barthari, Teharka, Kurechha, Purva and Barwar. They will receive water from Matateela, Parichha, Lahchura, Saprar and Pahadi dams, the Barwar lake and the Betwa river, he said.
Kundan Ahirwar, a villager, said people living on the rocky terrain of the district were dependent on hand pumps for drinking water.
With hand pumps running dry in summer, the villagers had to trudge to water tanks nearby or were dependent on water tankers sent by the district administration.
“The supply of pure drinking water to households has remained a dream for us. The villagers are hopeful that with the launch of the Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal project, they will get the required drinking water with ease. It will protect us from toil and water-borne diseases. The villagers will save time which can be utilised on other works to increase income,” he said.
Principal secretary (Namami Gange) Anurag Srivastava said the state government was going to start the supply of drinking water to thousands of homes in the Bundelkhand and Vindhyan regions from December. The state government has completed about 80% work of water treatment plants in various districts of Bundelkhand, including Jhansi and Mahoba.
The Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal Yojana launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aimed to be completed within six months, much before the earlier schedule announced by the state government, he said.
“It will be a New Year’s gift to the villagers of Bundelkhand and Vindhyan region by the state government. The supply of pure water will bring relief to the people from diseases and the villages will be rid of the recurrent water crisis,” he said.
Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, 467 piped drinking water schemes are being constructed as part of 32 projects launched by the state government. While 43 schemes are surface water-based, 424 are ground water-based.
With the launch of the scheme, water connections will be provided to 1,195,265 households having a population of 7,2 68,705 in 3,823 revenue villages. The project will benefit the people residing in 40 tehsils, 68 development blocks, and 2608 gram panchayats of seven districts — Jhansi, Mahoba, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Chitrakoot, Banda and Hamirpur of the Bundelkhand region, he said.
