Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said here on Saturday that public participation will be encouraged by organising Jal sammelan under Jal Jeevan Mission, as per an official statement.
CM said a campaign would be launched to develop a sense of responsibility in people for depositing water charges in villages.
He was addressing a meeting organised under Jal Jeevan Mission and Ken Betwa link at Mantralaya in presence of Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Food Processing, Industries Prahlad Patel, union minister of state for Jal Shakti and Tribal Affairs Vishweshwar Tudu and MP’s minister of state for Public Health Engineering Brijendra Singh Yadav.
Under the mission, every effort would be made to implement canal irrigation in Panna and Damoh area. There should be no hurry to accomplish the goal. Where there was a certified source of groundwater, the system of water supply should be ensured in the mission.
Chouhan said the ground water level in Bundelkhand region is receding fast. There was a need to focus more on group schemes in this area.
He said under the Jal Jeevan Mission, tap connections should be made available to anganwadis and schools on priority basis. For the purpose of providing water from the tap, a whole new pipeline should be laid in place of the old weak pipelines. With this, the benefits of the new scheme would be available equally to all the people of the settlement.
Union minister of state Prahlad Patel said a third party evaluation of all projects must be done. The task of evaluation should be entrusted to technically skilled and competent groups and individuals. Planning and implementing the Jal Jeevan Mission with the beneficiaries will lead to success in providing irrigation facilities in maximum areas and drinking water facilities in more settlements.
He said innovations taking place in Malwa and Nimar region in the state in this regard should be followed in other parts of the state also.
It was informed in the meeting that 8.11 lakh hectares of annual irrigation facility will be available to Madhya Pradesh under Ken-Betwa link project.
Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains, additional chief secretary Water Resources SN Mishra, additional chief secretary Public Health Engineering Malay Srivastava, principal secretary Panchayat and Rural Development Umakant Umrao and other officers were present, as per a release.
