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Lucknow, 16 February (HS). Due to lack of clean drinking water, many children not only become vulnerable to serious diseases but one fourth of them even lose their lives. The infant mortality rate due to water-borne diseases in the country is currently 25 percent. This figure will reduce when clean water reaches every household through the Drinking Water Mission.
While inaugurating the two-day National Water Conference organized under the joint aegis of Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission on Friday, Vini Mahajan, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, expressed this hope. He said that the states have moved rapidly towards the target while overcoming the challenges, for this they deserve congratulations.
During this, Vini Mahajan underlined all the challenges of the drinking water mission. He said that achieving the target is not the real challenge. The bigger challenge is how its continuity will be maintained. How will people's participation be ensured in this scheme? How this project will be handed over to the common people and they will always give it momentum. He said that we need to make concerted efforts on every front to achieve sustainable water management goals. We have to commit that we will maintain the quality of the water supplied. To prevent water borne diseases, we have to follow chlorination protocol and it should be ensured. With this we will be able to achieve the expected target.
He said that there is a need to run a comprehensive awareness campaign to explain the need for clean drinking water. We also have to ensure that ground water keeps getting recharged. Only by doing this will we be able to use our water resources for a long time. To ensure that our water sources do not get contaminated, we have to maintain the trend of being free from open defecation i.e. ODF. When the government does any work, its goals are big. Therefore, all the departments will have to maintain mutual coordination for every project. Achieving goals becomes easier with cooperation between departments.
UP share your plan with everyone
Vini Mahajan appreciated the efforts of Uttar Pradesh. He said that Uttar Pradesh should share its plan with everyone so that more people can also see and adopt it. How to fulfill the plan and maintain consistency with the target while dealing with the challenges is a very important aspect.
Dr. Chandrabhushan Kumar, Director of National Jal Jeevan Mission and Additional Secretary to the Central Government, started his address by mentioning Thakur's well. He said that the challenge of clean water has been there since the beginning but Jal Jeevan Mission has challenged this challenge itself.
Jitendra Srivastava, Mission Director and Joint Secretary of Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin, Government of India, described Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin as complementary schemes to each other. He expressed his views on the importance of cleanliness and its utility.
Anjum Parvez, Additional Chief Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department of Karnataka, said that no work can be completed without determination. Jal Jeevan Mission is on the way to success after overcoming many challenges. On this occasion, Special Chief Secretary of Assam S Abbasi and Principal Secretary of Rural Development Department of Bihar Arvind Kumar Chaudhary were present.
This conference will become a platform to share best practices: Anurag Srivastava
Namami Gange of Uttar Pradesh Government and Anurag Srivastava, Principal Secretary, Rural Water Supply Department, welcomed the guests coming to this national conference and expressed gratitude for Uttar Pradesh being given the opportunity to host this important conference. He said that this conference will become a platform for people to share their best practices. Everyone will know about each other's efforts and will apply their good qualities in their own homes too. On this occasion, MD of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam Rural, Dr. Balkar Singh was also present.