news details |
|
|
| ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ still a distant dream for Dessa village in Doda | | Residents rely on natural water resources for their various needs | |  KUNAL SHRIVATSA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, July 3: “Self reliant villages give strength to a self-reliant India,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated this while launching ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ for Sonbhadra and Mirzapur in Vindhya region of Uttar Pradesh via Video Conference on November 22, 2020.
However, the Prime Minister’s remarks for making rural pockets self-reliant as far as water supply is concerned, though spoken with a positive and sincere intent, have yet to yield a fruitful result in several far-flung areas of Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory.
One of these ill-fated villages which are still craving to get tap water facility in their backyard is Dessa area in Doda district where such provisions mooted by the government seem to be a distant dream for these hamlets. It is in place to mention here that ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ (tap water to every household), is an ambitious scheme initiated by the Government of India with the aim to provide tap water facility to every rural household by 2024. The scheme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15th August 2019. Locals of the area while lamenting the much hyped ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ of the government said that mere announcements of the schemes cannot make a changeover, adding that implementation on ground and benefits to the tail end must be visible to realize the real purpose behind its launching.
“This region is full of inherent resources but it has been always ignored since independence. Successive governments did not bother to address the problem of water scarcity and as a result people of the area are forced to fulfill their needs from the nearby springs, streams, nallahs and other natural sources of water,” a local said.
“Despite the area having Dessa river in its surroundings, the PHE Department has failed to tap its water which can easily be utilized for providing water supply through pipelines to the residents,” he added.
He further said that the river has enough water which can be lifted and supplied to the nearby areas, adding that it would certainly end water woes of a large chunk of population to a greater extent.
It may be recalled that the Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta while chairing a meeting to review the progress achieved under the centrally sponsored scheme ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ in the Union Territory on June 15 directed the officials to ensure tapped drinking water to every household in J&K by September 2022.
“Going by the pace of work on full implementation of the scheme and several areas like our village left to be covered it remains to be seen how the official machinery could be able to achieve the target set by the Chief Secretary in the stipulated time frame,” said a group of Dessa residents. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
