Centre launched mega project to provide piped drinking water in rural areas

Aiming to provide drinking water in the rugged Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions, the state government has decided to select consultant  for a mega Rs 14,800 crore project that could ensure piped drinking water in villages of the two arid regions. A decision to this effect was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Tuesday.

Government spokesperson and Health minister Sidharthnath Singh told reporters that in 2014, the Centre had launched a project to provide piped drinking water supply in rural areas and by 2022, around 90 per cent of the population whould be covered by it.

“The project has picked up slowly in UP and presently only 4 per cent of villagers are getting piped drinking water. But now the government will accelerate the project,” he said. 

States like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Punjab have covered 75 per cent of the villages by piped drinking water so far.

Under the projectin UP, 6240 villages with population of around 1.55 crore would get piped drinking water at a cost of Rs 14,800 crore in which the state’s share would be 40 per cent.

Singh said that the new consultant would prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to implement the scheme. 

Singh said that villages infected with Arsenic, Fluoride, JE and AES have been given attached priority in the project and every family would get 70 liters of piped drinking water daily.

In an another important decision, the state government sanctioned Rs  5.19 crore for four ‘akharas’ of Allahabad for construction of  pilgrims facilities on their land  for the coming Kumbh Mela in early 2019. The four ‘akharas’ are Ahawan, Agni Panch, Nirmohi and Baghambari Mutt and the  facilities would be extended to other akharas if they come up with proposals.

The government also approved the increased cost of the new building for liver transplant at SGPGI in Lucknow with a rider that the building be completed within a year. The cost of the building was Rs 26.67 crore in 2009 when it commenced and was increased to Rs 59.21 crore in 2011 and now for a third time, it has been increased to Rs 67.19 crore.

In another decision, the government approved transfer of 10 acres of government land of Agriculture department to Department of Medical and Health in Mirzapur for the construction of a new medical college for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone on July 15. 

Presently, the Mirzapur district hospital has 10.27 acres of land where the medical college will be constructed but as norms mandate that a medical college should have  at least 20 acres of land, hence the 10 acres of additional land was taken from Agriculture department free of cost. 

The government would be spending Rs 232.9 crore to construct Mirzapur medical college.

On the recommendation of Allahabad High Court, the government also agreed to change and amende the syllabus of UP Higher Judicial Services examination. 

The government also approved financial sanctions during 2017-18 fiscal for medical education of Rs 256.15 crore and for Sainik School, Mainpuri of Rs 10 crores.