PUBLIC HEALTH Engineering Department (PHED) Secretary Rakesh Agarwal today said here that water was being transported to as many as 89 villages in the State to help the villages tide over water crisis in summer season. Most of the villages are in Malwa region.
Addressing a press conference, Agarwal said that out of the 89 villages 71 were in Shajapur district alone. The rest included 10 villages in Ratlam district, four in Datia district and two villages each in Neemuch and Sidhi.
He said as compared to the previous year, the water crisis was not alarming at the moment. Last year, water had to be transported to over 600 villages, he added.
He said the villages facing water crisis were identified by the Revenue Department and then the Collector informed the PHE Department about the need of transportation of water to the villages.
Agarwal said the State had as many as 3.64 lakh hand-pumps, out of which, 45,000 were not in working condition and 30,000 of these were not working because of receding groundwater level.
The rest could not be repaired because of technical problems. He said the State had as many 1.26 lakh settlements (basahat) out which 7750 did not have a source of water. Assistance was being sought from the Centre to install about 22,000 hand-pumps.
{{/usCountry}}The rest could not be repaired because of technical problems. He said the State had as many 1.26 lakh settlements (basahat) out which 7750 did not have a source of water. Assistance was being sought from the Centre to install about 22,000 hand-pumps.
{{/usCountry}}Informing about total sanitation campaign (TSC) in the State, he said the PHED had made great strides in improving access to toilets and basic hygiene for the habitants through promotion of the TSC.
The total sanitation campaign (TSC) motivated individuals to stop defecating in the open and build sanitary conditions in the homes and schools, he added.
Agarwal said that currently only 11 per cent of the population used toilets. He, however, said this was 50 per cent increase since January 2005 but was still slow in progress.