With the aim to provide safe drinking water to all the people, Public Health and Engineering Department has set up eight drinking water bottling plants across the State, according to a release on the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) website on Saturday.
Named Pran Dhara, the bottled water is already available in the market in 500 ml and one-litre bottles priced at Rs. 7 and Rs. 12 respectively. All State government departments, government undertakings, and urban and local bodies have been asked to place their orders for the ‘cheap but good quality’ water.
During the period between May 2011 and March 2013, as many as 271 piped water supply schemes had been sanctioned to serve 62,75,993 people across the State.
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The coverage of rural population through piped water facility has increased from 37.95 per cent to 42 per cent during this period. Additionally, 19,500 spot sources for water supply have been created during the period.
A detailed project report for the eight bottling plants - in South 24 Parganas, Siliguri, Cooch Behar, Malda, Murshidabad, Purbasthali, Haringhata, and Barrackpore - has been prepared with an estimated cost of Rs. 42.82 crore.
According to the release, work in the first phase in South 24 Parganas has been completed. Three plants - at Haringhata, Nadia, Purbasthali, Bardhaman, Lalbag and Murshidabad - are being set up.
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Subrata Mukherjee, Public Health Engineering Minister, on Friday declared in the Assembly his ambitious plans of providing 70 litres of water per person a day in rural households by 2020 to tackle the menace of arsenic and fluoride poisoning.