In a bid to ensure adequate quality potable drinking water supply and total sanitation in the villages across the state, the Punjab Government would soon pose a comprehensive second World Bank aided project worth Rs. 2000 crore to the Ministry of Finance, GoI for laying sewerage system in 1000 villages besides augmentation of rural drinking water supply in 800 villages to 70 litre per captia per day (lpcd).A decision to this effect was taken by the Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal during a high level wrap up meeting held here with the six-member World Bank delegation led by its senior Water & Sanitation Specialist & Task Team leader Mr. Srinivasa Rao Podi Pi Reddy this afternoon.Taking part in the deliberations, the Principal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation Mr. Suresh Kumar informed the Chief Minister that under the second WB project on the water supply and sanitation alternate water supply arrangements for 250 quality affected villages would be made with installation of RO plants or latest interventions besides performance and service improvement would also be made in 1000 villages with addition/replacement of certain components of water supply schemes and remodelling and cleaning of all village ponds. A State level Training & Research Institute was also be established for intensifying Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and capacity building activities upon which progress of sector wide approach was wholly dependent.
The Chief Minister also asked the WB team for seeking funds for the up-gradation of damaged water supply schemes in water logged areas of the state for which the WB mission responded in positive for looking into their additional demand of finances in this regard.
It may be recalled the WB delegation which was on 10 days visit to Punjab to review the progress of Rs.1280 crore World Bank aided Rural Water Supply & Sanitation Project. The mission visited all the 116 villages covering 22 districts under the WB Water Supply & Sanitation Project.Highly appreciating the progress of the project, the team task leader Mr. Srinivasa apprised the Chief Minister that Punjab has really proved to be a role model for other states and it was far ahead of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh where this project was also being implemented progressively. He further said that Punjab was the only state in the country that has been able to run 23 water supply schemes with 24x7 water supplies through high degree of awareness with installation of water meters. He said the World Bank mission observed during its field visit that there was a strong demand for providing water meters in the villages so that poor people consuming less water were benefitted with metering by paying less for water consumption. Likewise, Punjab was also pioneer in this project wherein 603 villages having 100% private connections and all such villages were financially sustaining for operation and maintenance for expenditure like hiring of a pump operator, payment of electricity bill as well as repairs etc. without any help from the state Govt. All the works targeted for completion in this World Bank aided project closing in Dec., 2014 stand awarded and state was likely to exceed target of progress from 20 to 30% which was exceptionally rare in World Bank Aided Rural Project. The WB team also informed the Chief Minister that Punjab was the lone state where 98 villages were being provided with piped sewerage system and progress of works was quite satisfactory. All these villages were likely to avail sewerage connections with a next six months. However, the Task Team Leader requested the Chief Minister to help the poor house holds in these villages for aiding them construction of a septic tank in their houses for connection to the sold free sewerage system. The WB mission also observed that the Punjab may be only state where all Not Covered (NC) villages would be covered prior to end of the project i.e. Dec 2014 by fully covering all the remaining villages and resultantly all the 15170 habitations would be fully covered. Moreover state would be able to fully utilize the World Bank Aided in time as per World Bank guidelines.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also asked the WB task team leader to work out the modalities thereby recommending the state government a suitable technology for effective, liquid and solid waste management besides bailing out the state in cleaning the village ponds, which had posed a major health hazard to the rural population. He also solicited technical support from the WB team for disposal of sullage in the villages, which was a major problem in the way to ensure clean and pollution free environment. Mr. Badal sought technical help from WB team to explore ways and means to provide safe drinking water in the corporation cities of Ludhiana and Amritsar on the basis of their expertise and vast experience. Mr. Reddy told the Chief Minister that a study was being done by the expert in this regard to suggest a viable technology for making optimum utilization of surface water for drinking purpose in these cities and the report was expected in two months.Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included Principal Secretary Water Supply & Sanitation Mr. Suresh Kumar, Special Principal Secretaries to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar and Mr. Ajoy Sharma, Commissioner Patiala pision Mr. AS Pannu, Program Director WB project Punjab Mr. Ashwani Soni, Chief Technical Coordinator Mr. SR Aggarwal besides the Chief Engineers of Punjab Water Supply & Sanitation department. The WB team included Procurement Specialist Joseph Shine, Institution Development Specialist Manish Kumar, Community Specialist Mrs. Vandana and Consultant Dr. BKD Raja.