Chief minister Nitish Kumar is leaving no stone unturned in fulfilling his Saat Nishchay, the seven pledges of the state government to bring a change in the lives of residents and bring them on a par with their urban counterparts.

Nitish with cabinet ministers Madan Mohan Jha, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Ram Vichar Rai and senior government officials on Friday spent hours in a sleepy hamlet in Itha Rasoolpur, around 105km northeast of Patna, to get feedback on the innovative measures to rid villages of open defecation and drinking water at doorstep under the Jal-Nal scheme.

The chief minister studied the system of piped water supply and the setting up of a water tank atop a community hall to facilitate drinking water to the residents. He asked chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh to explore the outlet of water consumed by the residents. "The villagers should not quarrel over it," he said.

Nitish asked district magistrate Dharmendra Kumar to dig up an outlet for absorbing the water. "A total of 252 toilets in two wards of Itha Rasoolpur have so far been constructed," the DM said.

In a tête-à-tête with villagers, Nitish said: "I am glad to see the village free of open defecation. Now, it is the duty of the villagers to continue the spirit of cleanliness and hygiene in the places of abode."

On the new water supply system, Babita Kumari of Itha village said: "Though the work is being carried out on a war-footing, the villagers doubt how far it would succeed considering it needed electricity. Electricity here plays truant," she said.