With Rs. 4.5 lakh required as capital cost and Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 every month for maintenance and other expenses for a 1000 litre per hour capacity reverse osmosis plant to provide safe drinking water under the NTR Sujala Sravanthi scheme, the State government is looking for support from major industries to sponsor the units, right from erection to supply of water.
NTR Sujala Sravanthi has been conceived to provide safe drinking water in villages to prevent diseases, at the rate of Rs. 2 for 20 litres. In the Agency villages, UV (ultraviolet) units will be established at a cost of Rs. 65,000 each. The scheme is going to be launched as a pilot project in four to five major villages or gram panchayats in each mandal where drinking water is a problem.
The State government is thinking of getting the plants established by major industries and organisations as part of their CSR activities under BOT method and after the units get stabilised, hand them over to local gram panchayats or women SHGs, according to information available. The government believes that sponsorship is the only solution considering the cost of establishing a unit and running for a few years initially. Panchayats or SHGs can manage once the unit gets going. Selling 20 litres of water for Rs. 2 will be a burden and hence the support from industries is being sought.
An organisation like the Visakha Dairy can run the units since it has a wide network and is already selling safe drinking water and attach the NTR Sujala Sravnathi units to its existing system. The dairy has reportedly offered to run 400 units, say official sources.
