Drinking water distribution will be extended to 10 lakh more houses in the State by next year, Minister for Water Resources K. Krishnankutty has said.
With this, drinking water distribution will reach 22 lakh of the 86 lakh houses in the State, the Minister said, inaugurating the renovated drinking water project at Poomangalam panchayat on Sunday.
He claimed that six lakh more houses were given drinking water connection after the LDF government came into power. The government’s goal was to provide drinking water connection to all houses, the Minister added. The Central fund and the KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board) fund should be utilised for it. The local self-governments also should cooperate with the scheme. The government was planning five small dams as part of project to control floods, the Minister added. K.U. Arunan, MLA, presided over the function.
The project
Poomangalam drinking water project was a long-pending dream of the water-starved panchayat. The project, which will benefit four grama panchayats such as Poomangalam, Kattur, Padiyur and Karalam, was implemented with the support of National Bank of Agriculutre and Rural Development. The ₹40-crore project was launched in 2012.
Drinking water distribution under the project was first started in Kattur panchayat in 2014. It was extended to Karalam and Padiyur panchayats in 2018. In all, 1,30,885 people in the four panchayats will benefit from the project covering an area of 272 km. The project will supply 91 lakh litre water every day. A trial run has already been done from the water tank with a capacity of 5.4 lakh litre set up at the Kalparambu colony at Poomangalam.