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Saranda forest
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Ranchi, July 24: The Saranda villagers’ wish of getting piped water and toilets at their houses may actually get fulfilled.
Engineer-in-chief of the state drinking water and sanitation department (DWSD) Shardendu Narayan, who visited two panchayats — Lilor and Makranda — in Saranda forest area under West Singhbhum’s Manoharpur block on Saturday, is seriously considering the demands of the villagers put forward at a meeting.
It was also attended by DWSD superintending engineer of Chaibasa range Bahadur Oraon, Chakradharpur-based executive engineer Suresh Prasad and Manoharpur-based junior engineer of DWSD B. Pathak.
“Although we have installed as many as 118 tube wells in the area, villagers, particularly women, have demanded toilets and piped water supply to their houses at the meeting on Saturday. We are working out modalities to provide such benefits to them,” Narayan told The Telegraph.
The provisions, if approved finally, will not be covered under the Rs 250-crore Saranda Development Plan, a Centre-state initiative under which many developmental projects have simultaneously started in 56 villages of the erstwhile Maoist territory that was purged of rebels in August-September last year. According to Narayan, they will construct the toilets under Nirmal Bharat Yojana, hitherto known as Total Sanitation Campaign, as well as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Authorities feel that with the introduction of developmental projects under Saranda Development Plan, the villagers’ desire for quality life is experiencing new highs. At present, construction of all-weather roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana is going on while the villagers are being provided pucca houses under Indira Awas Yojana. On the other hand, Steel Authority of India Limited is distributing bicycles and transistors among them.
The engineer-in-chief, who also met jal sahiyas at Lilor and Makranda, ruled out any threat to welfare schemes in the forested area, otherwise considered a difficult terrain. He, however, admitted that plans couldn’t be chalked out while sitting at the state headquarters.
“It was only after one-to-one meeting with the villagers that we came to know about their need for toilets and piped water among other things. There is no more demand for tube wells in the region,” he said.
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