Chhattisgarh has been ranked first in the country for providing domestic water connection in 2014-15 under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). This is the State’s second major achievement after bagging first position in the country for installing solar pumps. Chief Minister Raman Singh and Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Ramsevak Paikra congratulated the officers of the department as well as citizens of the State for this achievement. Secretary, PHED, Ganesh Shankar Mishra on Wednesday reviewed the departmental schemes and later said that about 88000 rural households of the State have been provided domestic water connection during the period under NRDWP. The figures are highest in the State. Besides this, the number of water connections provided is 300 per cent greater than the annual target set by Central Government for Chhattisgarh. The Central Government had given a target of 30,000 water connection for the year 2014-15 under the programme. The objective of the whole programme is to provide pure drinking water to rural people to protect them from water borne diseases. The State has provided 88,000 domestic water connections in 10 months of 2014-15 and this is more than 50 per cent of total domestic connections provided in the State in past 42 years. In total, the number of domestic connections provided in rural areas has crossed the figure of 2.50 lakh. Mishra said that each household has to pay a fee of Rs500 for water connection under the programme. However, for people belonging to BPL category, the State Government bears the fee. He said that domestic water connection through pipe water scheme for rural areas was started in the State in 1972. Since then till 2013-14 as many as 1.62 lakh connections were provided under the scheme. In the present year 2014-15 as many as 87,800 connections have been provided till January 31, 2015. The figure is likely to increase by the end of the financial year. Mishra further said that Chhattisgarh is ahead of all the States in providing water supply with help of solar pumps. Out of total solar pumps installed across the country in 2013-14, 90 per cent solar pumps were installed in the State itself. Overall, more than 97 per cent villages of Chhattisgarh have been electrified so far. As many as 12 districts of the State have been provided with complete power supply while more than half of the districts are about to be declared completely electrified, officials here stated. 97.39 per cent villages have been electrified while initiatives have been taken to provide electricity in the remaining 2.61 per cent villages through conventional means and non-conventional sources. Senior officers are monitoring and reviewing the execution and progress of these schemes on daily basis. There are 19567 habitated villages in the State out of which 19,057 have been electrified. The CSPDCL is providing electricity to 18,208 villages through conventional sources and 39 villages through non-conventional sources. Moreover, the Chhattisgarh Government has installed as many as 83 ‘Reverse Osmosis’ (RO) plants in the regions facing problems of salinity in water used for drinking purposes. This apart, there are now 1,252 plants which remove high iron content from drinking water besides 227 plants clearing away high fluoride content from water supplied to the users in various parts of the State, officials stated. Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) officials informed that the Government has established 26 district-level laboratories in the State for checking fluoride content in ground water sources. During the last three years, as many as 56,388 samples collected from ground water sources across the State have been examined in the aforesaid laboratories. Out of these, 328 samples were found high in fluoride content. The Government spent more than Rs5.62 crore during 2012-13 for implementation of various schemes formulated for ensuring safe drinking water to the people living in fluoride affected areas. The number of samples tested for fluoride content in each of the district-level laboratories established in 26 districts of the State till September this year are as follows- 7541 in Jashpur district, 5495 in Ambikapur district, 5102 in Sukma district, 4292 in Durg district, 3754 in Rajnandgaon district, 3386 in Raipur district, 3365 in Narayanpur district, 3253 in Kabeerdham district, 2711 in Korba district, 2431 in Dhamtari district, 2258 in Bilaspur district, 1876 in Bijapur district, 1788 in Koriya district, 1731 in Dantewada district, 1466 in Kanker district, 1387 in Raigarh district, 1079 in Bastar district, 922 in Janjgir Champa district, 547 in Balrampur-Ramanujganj district, 500 in Gariaband district, 420 Bemetara district, 388 in Mahasamund district, 373 in Mungeli district, 183 in Balod district and 144 in Surajpur district. In May last year, the State Government has established a total of 105 ‘Flouride Removal Plants’ in settlements of 44 villages in Bastar division. In September last year, Chief Minister Raman Singh had approved Rs190 crore under the State Government’s ‘Nal-Jal Scheme’ for eliminating salinity in water supply being made to nearly 152 villages of Bemetara district from Shivnath River. The PHED officials informed that under ‘Nal-Jal’ scheme nearly 1.74 lakh people residing in several villages of Bemetara, Navagarh and Saja block will be benefitted. Under the scheme, 751 km of pipelines and 139 overhead tanks will be facilitated to ensure the supply of safe drinking water in villages. Notably, the Chhattisgarh Government has established a total of 1,881 solar powered pumps in the forest and inaccessible regions for providing safe drinking water to the people residing in such regions. Significantly, on rural electrification, as many as 568 remote villages in Chhattisgarh out of the sanctioned 682 were electrified under Central Government’s ‘Remote Village Electrification Programme’ as on March 31, 2014, according to the annual report 2013-14 of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The ‘Remote Village Electrification Programme’ is under implementation across the country for providing financial support for lighting/basic electricity using renewable energy sources in those unelectrified remote census villages, unelectrified hamlets of electrified census villages where grid connectivity is either not feasible or not cost effective and not covered under Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) for grid electrification. Although a variety of renewable energy technologies are possible for lighting/basic electrification of remote villages including small hydro, biomass and solar energy, yet, solar PV lighting remains the most preferred, it stated. The decision to use a particular technology is taken by the State implementing agencies after examination of the technical feasibility and resource availability. The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy provides Central Financial Assistance upto 90 per cent of the cost of the renewable energy systems subject to pre specified maximum amount for each technology. The cumulative sanctions of the villages and hamlets under the programme since its inception had reached 13,059. The main States where the programme has greater relevance due to difficulty to access areas are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and North Eastern states, the report stated. A special priority is provided to villages affected by Left Wing Extremism in line with the policy of the Central Government, it stated. The identification of the remote villages/villages had been broadly entrusted to the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). The State Governments shortlist unelectrified villages/hamlets in their States which are not likely to be electrified through grid and send their names to the Ministry for verification by the REC for non coverage under RGGVY for grid electrification.a