Bihar CM Nitish Kumar opens drinking water, pucca lane projects in state

Patna: CM Nitish Kumar on Friday inaugurated different projects total worth Rs33,716.51 crore through videoconferencing.
The projects included piped and safe drinking water supply to more than 140.94 lakh households as well as pucca lanes and drainage system in 1,13,902 wards in rural areas and 1,898 wards in urban areas across the state.
These pro-poor projects were executed under the ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’ and ‘Ghar Tak Pakki Gali-Naliyan’ schemes under the state government’s Saat Nischay (seven resolves) programme.
Of the total Rs33,716.51 crore, Rs20,430.73 crore were spent on the ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’ and Rs13,285.78 crore on the pucca lane and drainage projects.
All district magistrates, the elected representatives of the three-tier Panchayati Raj Institutions and the urban local bodies from several districts, Jeevika didis and field officials of the Panchayati Raj department, public health engineering department and the urban development department were connected to the programme through videoconferencing.
Beneficiaries of the projects from different villages and small towns also shared their experience with the CM through videoconferencing about the piped water supply facility in their households.
They lauded the state government’s efforts and hailed the CM for providing the facilities to their doorsteps.
Addressing the event, Nitish said people residing even in remote villages were now getting safe and piped drinking water and reaching home by pucca lanes without their feet becoming muddy in the rainy season.
He called upon people not to forget the development works done by his government (at the time of election). “I work for the welfare and progress of all people. I always think of prosperity in rural areas. My government has executed several development works. We also took steps for social reforms. At the request of women members of Jeevika, my government enforced total prohibition in the state. But I have only one request — don’t fall prey to the misinformation campaign launched by the opposition parties,” Nitish said.
The CM also announced increase in the annual maintenance grant to the ward implementation and management committee to Rs24,000 per annum from the existing Rs12,000. He also said the people engaged in maintenance work of the piped water scheme would now get Rs1,000 per month in place of existing Rs500.
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, PHED minister Vinod Narayan Jha, panchayati raj minister Kapildeo Kamat and urban development and housing department minister Suresh Sharma also addressed the event.