PM launches Rs 5,555 cr piped water for 41 lakh residents in UP’s Vindhya region

The PM also praised chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his team for ‘carrying out’ developmental projects despite the challenges posed by coronavirus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Rs 5,555 crore ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ or water tap for every house scheme for Sonbhadra and Mirzapur districts in the Vindhya region of Uttar Pradesh through video conference on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also praised the state government for its handling of Japanese Encephalitis cases in eastern Uttar Pradesh. (PTI Photo)

The scheme aims at providing piped water supply to over 41 lakh people in the two districts. The prime minister said piped water supply to about 3,000 villages will bring positive changes in the lives of locals.

The PM also praised chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his team. He said that UP has set an example by marching forward on the development journey despite the challenges posed by the global coronavirus pandemic.

“Earlier, people used to have a perception about UP. But the way UP has launched one developmental project after another is completely changing the image of Uttar Pradesh, the state government and its employees,” Modi said.

While tackling the Covid-19 challenge, the state government took care of people who returned from the cities and made arrangements for their employment, he said, adding further that the UP government did not let the Covid-19 situation slow down the pace of development in the state.

The prime minister also praised the state government for successfully handling Japanese Encephalitis cases in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

“The way in which the number of cases of Japanese Encephalitis decreased in Uttar Pradesh, due to the efforts by the state government led by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, is being discussed far and wide. Even experts talk about it,” he said and added that every resident of Uttar Pradesh would have been “blessing” the CM and his team for saving the lives of innocent children”.

The prime minister alleged that villages, tribal areas and their residents were previously not given as much priority as his government was giving to develop city-like facilities, including LPG connections, there.

“Despite having many natural resources and enjoying blessings of rivers like Son, Belan, Karmanash, Van Ganga, Kshipra, the Vindhya region faced neglect for decades since independence... The region was identified by drought. Be it Vindhya region or Bundelkhand, the whole region became one of dearth and scarcity. As a result, several people had to migrate from here,” PM said.

“But during the last few years, continuous efforts were made by the government to ensure clean tap water to every house and to develop irrigation facilities in the region. As a result, last year, a big water project was started in Bundelkhand region and today, the scheme worth Rs 5,555 crore has been launched in the Vindhya region to ensure supply of clean water through pipes to every house,” he added.

He said piped water supply would make the life of our mothers and sisters easier in the villages and also reduce many diseases like cholera, typhoid, encephalitis caused by dirty water.

PM said that 1250 van dhan kendras had been set up in tribal areas, adding that a district mineral fund had been created for development of tribal areas.

The idea was to spend a large chunk of the fund generated from the tribal areas on its development, he said.

PM Modi also recalled that Apna Dal founder, the late Sone Lal Patel, had been quite worried about the lack of water in the Vindhya region.

“With the launch of 23 schemes, 14 in Sonbhadra and nine in Mirzapur, his soul will be content and he will shower his blessings on us,” the prime minister said.