Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (November 22, 2020) laid the foundation stone of rural drinking water supply projects worth Rs 5,555.38 crore in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts of Vindhyachal region of Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone via video conference and also interacted with Village Water and Sanitation Committee/ Paani Samiti Members during the event.
The projects will reportedly provide household tap water connections in all rural households of 2,995 villages and will benefit about 42 lakh population of these districts. The projects are planned to be completed in 24 months.
Speaking on the occasion, PM Modi said, “During the last one and half years from the start of Jal Jeevan Mission, more than 2 crores 60 lakh families have been provided piped drinking water connection to their homes including lakhs of families in Uttar Pradesh as well.”
He added, “Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the life of our mothers and sisters is getting easier due to easy water access at the comfort of their homes.”
PM Modi stated that a major benefit of this has also been the reduction of many diseases like cholera, typhoid, encephalitis caused by dirty water of the poor families.
He lamented that despite having a lot of resources, Vindhyachal or Bundelkhand regions became regions of deficiencies.
“In spite of having several rivers, these regions were known as the most thirsty and drought-affected regions and forced many people to migrate from here. Now water scarcity and irrigation issues will be resolved by these projects and it signifies rapid development,” added PM Modi.
The Prime Minister remarked when piped water reaches thousands of villages in Vindhyanchal, the health of children of this region would be improved and their physical and mental development will be better.
He added that self-reliant India gets strength from self-reliant villages.
The Prime Minister pointed to provision of LPG cylinder, electricity supply, Solar plant at Mirzapur, completion of irrigation projects and solar projects on uncultivable land to provide steady extra income to the farmers.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Governor Anandiben Patel and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat were also present on the occasion.
