Mission Bhagiratha now covers over 2 crore people

Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Khammam and Sangareddy have wider coverage; 11 States plan to replicate the scheme

Hyderabad: Mission Bhagiratha, the flagship programme of the TRS government aimed at supplying safe, adequate, sustainable and treated drinking water to every household in the State has achieved coverage of 208.82 lakh population living in 24,042 rural habitations. The State government is spending Rs 45,000 crore on this programme.

According to the State Statistical Abstract on Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Khammam and Sangareddy have topped the districts that have wider coverage because of the sheer size of the rural habitations, while Medchal Malkajgiri, Mulugu, Narayanpet, Warangal (Urban) and Jayashankar Bhupalpally are districts that registered relatively lower coverage.

Mission Bhagiratha was launched in the State with an initial estimated cost of Rs 43,791 crore. The entire project was divided into 26 main segments, with 67 intake wells, 153 water purifying plants and more than 1.4 lakh km of pipelines. Through 35,514 over-head reservoirs, tapped water connections are being provided to every household across the State. Witnessing the success of Mission Bhagiratha, about 11 States have planned to replicate the scheme.

As per a study conducted by the Indian Natural Resource, Economic and Management (INREM) Foundation, no fluoride case was reported in erstwhile Nalgonda district in the last six years following implementation of Mission Bhagiratha scheme, a major achievement of the State government.

Swachh Bharat Mission

The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) was launched on October 2, 2014, replacing Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan in Telangana. Under this mission, it was envisaged that all gram panchayats will have toilets on saturation basis so that nobody is forced to go for open defecation. The SBM is a comprehensive total sanitation scheme at gram panchayat level and the State government focuses on integrated sanitation by taking up construction of individual household latrines (IHHLs), community toilets and solid and liquid resource management.

Telangana received the prestigious ‘Swachh Bharat’ award for the third consecutive year making it the only State in the country to achieve the distinction. Karimnagar stood in third position in the districts category. The Swachh Bharat awards are given to States, districts, blocks (mandals) and village panchayats particularly under drinking water and cleanliness categories. The Union government launched three missions under Swachh Sundar Samudayak Shouchalaya, Samudayak Shouchalaya Abhyan and Gandagi Mukth Bharat.

In SBM of rural Telangana, Mahbubnagar, Jangaon, Kumram Bheem, Vikarabad, Sangareddy, Jagitial and Peddapalli were among the districts that have crossed 96 per cent of coverage. Under SBM of urban Telangana, Warangal Urban, Karimnagar, Rajanna Sircilla, Peddapalli, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Nirmal, Kumram Bheem, Mancherial, Ranga Reddy, Vikarabad, Nizamabad, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Nalgonda, Siddipet, Sangareddy, Medak, Mahbubnagar, Jogulamba Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Nagarkurnool and Hyderabad have achieved 100 per cent coverage.

When it comes to household drainage connectivity, urban areas fared well, while predominantly rural areas still have to improve connectivity in comparison with the households of that district. Mulugu, Mahbubabad, Kumram Bheem, Jayashankar Bhupalpalli and Warangal rural have to improve drainage connectivity to households. Out of the 83, 03,612 total households, 32, 13,276 households have no drainage connectivity as per the household data of 2011.

 

 

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