A new department will be carved out of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department to take care of drinking water and sanitation requirements in rural areas. The department will come into existence by August 15.
RDPR Minister H K Patil told mediapersons here on Wednesday that the new department would focus on supplying potable water and ensuring sanitation in rural areas.
Bifurcation process and appointment of staff for the new department will be completed by July and the new entity will come into existence by August 15, he said. The RDPR department has asked the Institution of Engineers to evaluate multi-village drinking water supply schemes and suggest measures to make them successful, he said.
Electricity supply companies (escoms) have been directed to provide power supply to drinking water supply schemes implemented at an estimated cost of below Rs one lakh, within 10 days.
A committee comprising chief executive officers of zilla panchayats and managing directors of escoms has been constituted for implementation of these projects, the minister said.
Leave facility
Government orders have been issued cancelling the leave facility to the personnel of water supply schemes. They will be granted leave under exceptional circumstances. Temporary transformer banks have been established at zilla panchayat offices to solve the problem of faulty transformers which affect the drinking water supply, he added. Chief executive officers have been given more liberty to tackle water scarcity, Patil said.