TOUR REPORT OF SHRI A. BHATTACHARYYA, JOINT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER SUPPLY, MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AS AREA OFFICER OF GUJARAT– FROM 9Th TO 12TH OCTOBER 2007 TOUR REPORT OF SHRI A. BHATTACHARYYA, JOINT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER SUPPLY, MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AS AREA OFFICER OF GUJARAT– FROM 9Th TO 12TH OCTOBER 2007 **** Reached Ahemdabad on 9th October 2007 at 7.30 a.m. Held meeting with Secretary (PHED) and other state government officials at Jal Bhawan at 10.30 a.m. Besides PHED officers, officials from other Departments viz., DRDA – Sanitation, NREGS - WASMO were also present. At the outset I explained the purpose and aim of my visit to all the state government officials present in the meeting. The need to strengthen and implement development schemes i.e. SGSY, SGRY, IAY, NREGS, PMGSY, ARWSP and TSC in a result-oriented and time bound manner was impressed upon the officers present in the meeting. I explained that targets under Bharat Nirman are to be met by March 2009. Hence there is need for effective monitoring specially in respect of ARWSP, IAY and PMGSY – the three programmes which are part of Bharat Nirman Action Plan. I also pointed out that the state is lagging behind in respect of on line reporting of monthly progress reports for ARWSP and TSC. Therefore, stringent monitoring by higher officials is needed in this regard. Without proper and up-to-date reporting it would be difficult for the Department to monitor and evaluate the good work done by the state in rural development. The state officials were also requested to put in place a time bound Action Plan to tackle water quality problems (especially fluoride and salinity) in large number of habitations in North Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutchch. Shri V.S. Gadhvi, Secretary (PHED) stated that Gujarat is a water-deficient State. Fresh water availability in the State is only 1,137 cubic meters per annum per person against the national average of 2,000 cubic meters. Within the state, water availability varies from Page 2 of 29 region to region viz. South Gujarat with high forest cover and high precipitation has freshwater availability of 1932 cubic meters per annum whereas in North Gujarat per capita availability is mere 342 cubic meters. In Saurashtra, freshwater availability is 734 cubic meters, whereas in Kutchch, it is only 875 cubic meters per annum. Incidents of drought due to insufficient rainfall and regional variations have almost become a permanent feature except for last 2-3 years. Over and above there has been drastic increase in the number of quality affected villages in terms of fluoride, salinity, nitrates etc and at present, the number of affected habitations is around 8,000 out of total 30,000 habitations in the state. To meet drinking water and other domestic need, almost 3/4th of the state is dependent on ground water. On an average ground water is depleting by three meters per annum. Thus depleting ground water coupled with deteriorating quality of ground water and recurrence of drought warrants immediate long- term solution. State Government is in the process of implementing Sardar Sarovar Canal Based Drinking Water Supply Project based on Narmada water under which 8215 villages and 135 towns of North Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutchch districts are being covered. Under this project, water is being/to be transported through bulk water transmission lines and distribution network to the doorsteps of villages and towns. Thereafter, in rural areas Panchayats will take over the responsibility of distribution, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply systems whereas local urban bodies will be responsible for distribution management, operation & maintenance in towns. The system has been designed to provide assured supply of hygienic potable water to the population for the next twenty-five years. The system also envisages a series of filtration plants for Regional Water Supply Schemes. This will be one of the biggest water pipeline-networking projects in the world and is a classic example of inter-basin transfer of water from surplus areas to deficient areas. CEO WASMO (Dr. Jaipal Singh) informed the undersigned that the software training for on-line reporting is complete and they have started reporting monthly progress reports on line. By 15th October 2007 all the district hqrs will be connected and DDWS will start getting information on-line thereafter. Regarding mitigating water quality problem, he stated that they have just completed the training of Page 3 of 29 trainers and they are in the process of distributing chemical and bacteriological testing kits. Once the actual sample collection work is done they will be able to evaluate the samples centrally and disseminate information on safe and potable drinking water. He added that there are approximately 18,000 villages in Gujarat and 11000 PRIs. Village level water quality teams have so far been formed in 9720 villages. They have given village level training in 5462 villages and block level training in 255 blocks, which were attended by 12094 participants. 67 Districts level training programmes have been completed so far. They have also distributed 4185 water testing kits and 4290 sanitary surveys have been completed. 125500 no. of bacteriological testing kits have been distributed in the State. Secretary PHED stated that apart from the above, in Gujarat, Block Extension Officers are also being given training. Block level coordinators i.e. school teachers under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and ASHA workers are also being imparted training. He added that they have enough stock of test kits, voiles and strips to take water samples and their endeavour will be to mobilize people so as to generate a feeling of participatory approach among the masses. The tendering process for augmenting supply of test kits will be completed by 25 October 2007. I explained that training and distribution of kits should be done simultaneously so that simultaneously test results can be obtained. Need for developing suitable mechanism for tackling bacterial contamination was also discussed. Secretary PHED stated that their testing mechanism is so safe that during Secretary (DWS)’s visit to Kutchch recently, Secretary (DWS) herself saw the testing being done by villagers accurately though he himself was not very confident about the ability of villager to conduct the testing of water quality samples accurately. I, however, stated that though this was a good indication, an action plan needs to be worked out and a system for implementation right down to the village level should be developed. CEO, WASMO assured me that by the end October, they will be able to give the final picture in this regard. All bacteriological and chemical kits will be distributed and by the end of November, they will get the test results and by December end they will be able to disseminate the information Page 4 of 29 regarding results and thereafter further remedial actions, wherever required, will be initiated. Secretary PHED informed all that they have designed software and with the help of this software they will be able to get test results immediately, which will be displayed, on village Panchayat Notice Boards. Information on bacteriological results will be the first priority and with the help of existing Paani Samities, they will be able to react to any alarming situation in this regard immediately. Summing up I once again informed the officers present that Bharat Nirman targets are to be completed in time. Similarly, as discussed during the State Minister level Conference and various Secretary level meetings/conferences, all rural schools are to be covered with drinking water and sanitation facilities by December 2007. The state government should chalk out a strategy in this regard and there should be no let up in this regard. If piped water schemes are taking time then State should resort to adopting water conservation technologies and promote sustainability. The state should also adopt the practice of conjunctive use of ground water and surface water. Long term solutions should also be considered but at present all out efforts should be made to cover all habitations with safe and potable drinking water supply. Secretary PHED assured to achieve the targets set forth under Bharat Nirman by March 2009. Total Sanitation Campaign There are 18000 villages with a population ranging between 500 to 15000. About 40% of the total population live in urban areas. Village economy is dependent on agriculture and animal husbandry. Women, however, show more interest in improving sanitation facilities in the rural areas. Literacy and toilet use are correlated and therefore there is need to launch an effective IEC campaign to make TSC a greater success. The health sector has to come forward and help the campaign make a grand success in the State. National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NRGES) The state has a total population of 5.07 crores out of which Rural Population is 3.17 crores. The number of districts in the state is 25 and the number of blocks is 225. The number of villages is 18,056 and there Page 5 of 29 are 13,759 gram panchayats in the State. The total number of habitations is 30,518. There are about 68.65 lakhs rural house holds. Regarding promotion of IEC activities so as to educate the masses about the scheme, it was stated that the State has held appraisal discussions in 7886 Gram Sabha in 4147 GPs. They have put hoardings in 1860 Villages and distributed pamphlets/posters in 3463 villages. There is display of information boards in 4147 GPs. They have taken out special Rozgar Rathyatras/Rallies in 2878 villages. Drama/Bhavai /Puppet show have taken place in 249 villages.