An ambitious plan to provide 70 litres of piped water per person per day in rural areas by 2020 to tackle the menace of arsenic and fluoride poisoning has been drawn up by the West Bengal government.
Stating that 82 blocks in six districts have been affected by arsenic poisoning, Public Health Engineering minister Subrata Mukherjee told the Assembly today that fluoride poisoning is prevalent in seven districts.
Stating that the menace needed to be tackled firmly in rural and urban areas, Mukherjee said that the government plans to provide 70 litres water per day to every person in rural households by 2020.
Replying to demand for Budgetary grants for PHE department, the minister said that a comprehensive action plan on fluoride mitigation has been prepared at an estimated cost of Rs 1580 crore.
It would be executed in phases in 43 fluoride affected blocks of seven districts of Birbhum, Bankura, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Purulia, Malda and South 24 Parganas.
The government, he said, for the first time has sanctioned 50 piped water supply projects at an estimated cost of Rs 141.70 crore which would benefit a population of 3.14 lakh in Junglemahal area in Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore districts.
Another project to supply drinking water to 14 blocks in Bankura at a sanctioned cost of Rs 1011.12 crore covering a population of 30.15 lakh has been taken up under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), Mukherjee said.
The PHE department has taken up the first phase of JICA Mission Project in Purulia district at an estimated cost of Rs 1173.10 crore covering nine blocks.
