Punjab to cover 35 lakh rural household with piped water connections by March 2022

The target to provide potable piped water connections to all 35 lakh rural households will be achieved by March 2022 under the Jal Jiwan Mission, said the Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Razia Sultana, adding that 66 per cent of these households have already been covered by December 2020.

The target to provide potable piped water connections to all 35 lakh rural households will be achieved by March 2022 under the Jal Jiwan Mission, said the Punjab Water Supply and Station Minister Razia Sultana, adding that 66 per cent of these households have already been covered by December 2020.

Addressing a press conference at Punjab Bhawan on Friday, Sultana said that despite the pandemic situation, Water Supply and Station Department has provided the potable piped water supply in three districts SAS Nagar, SBS Nagar, and Rupnagar, besides accomplishing the 100 per cent piped water supply target in 14 blocks and 4608 villages.

"Punjab government was committed to cover all rural households with potable piped water connections," Sultana said, adding that water treatment plants are being set up where water quality was impacted.

"11 water treatment projects are being set up in Moga, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, and Gurdaspur. These projects would benefit 1103 villages at a cost of Rs 1,249 crores. Similarly, to provide potable water supply to the villages which could not be covered under canal-based water supply, the department is installing Arsenic and Iron Removal Plants/ Individual Household Units/RO Plants in villages of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Patiala, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, SBS Nagar, and Gurdaspur at a cost of Rs 80 crores," she added.

Apart from this, the department in association with the Rural Development and Panchayat Department has released a total amount of Rs 3.32 crore for solid waste management in 81-gram panchayats in the state and a total of Rs 21 crores to 904 panchayats for liquid waste management, the government said.

( With inputs from ANI )