A drinking water supply scheme for a population of over 25,000 in the Karloti-Kapahada area of the Ghumarwin Assembly constituency in Bilaspur district will be commissioned soon, said Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani on Tuesday.
He added that the construction of a drinking water scheme at a cost of around Rs 20 crore was in the final stage. The testing of the scheme had commenced and once fully operational, it would directly benefit around 25,000 people of 31 villages in 11 gram panchayats of the Ghumarwin constituency.
The minister said that under the Karloti-Kapahada scheme, water was being sourced from the Sutlej at Malyawar village on the right bank of the river. The construction was carried out in two phases.
While the first phase covered the construction of a pumping site at Bhatoli near Malyawar, the second phase focused on tanks and the distribution system at Panoh village and the Fetidhar area.
He said that various gram panchayats, including Kotlu, Kapahada, Karloti, Chhat, Sandyar, Paplah and Palasla, would get improved drinking water supply. He added that the government was developing drinking water and irrigation schemes by drawing water from the Sutlej to provide better supply to the local population and farmers.
Dharmani said that alongside providing drinking water, the government had prioritised the development of irrigation facilities for farmers.
An irrigation project was currently under construction at a cost of Rs 15 crore for Auhar, Bakroa, Awari and Panoh panchayats, which are situated along the Sutlej. Furthermore, an additional project had been proposed under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana to expand irrigation facillities at a cost of Rs 75 crore and it had been submitted to the Central Government for approval.
He said that the implementation of these schemes would bring a significant portion of the region under the ambit of assured irrigation facilities.
