PHED Hosts Workshop on Water Supply Maintenance and Sustainability Under 'Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal' Scheme

The Public Health Engineering Department organized a one-day orientation workshop on long-term maintenance of water supply schemes, water source sustainability and water quality monitoring and supervision under the 'Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal' scheme. The workshop was organized at Convention Hall, Irrigation Bhawan Complex, Patna under the chairmanship of Hon'ble Minister, Public Health Engineering Department, Shri Neeraj Kumar Singh. Principal Secretary, Shri Pankaj Kumar, Additional Secretary, Shri Sanjeev Kumar and all senior and regional engineers including departmental Chief Engineers, Superintending Engineers, Executive Engineers and Junior Engineers from across the state were present in this workshop.

The workshop was started by lighting the lamp by Hon'ble Minister, Shri Neeraj Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, Shri Pankaj Kumar and senior officials of the department. On this occasion, the Hon'ble Minister inspired all the engineers to bring excellence in their work and also paid tribute to the great engineer Shri M. Visvesvaraya and said that we should take inspiration from his works. The Hon'ble Minister also assured that the department will continuously honor those engineers who will do excellent work in their field.

The Hon'ble Minister, while highlighting the success of 'Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal' scheme, said that this scheme has proved to be a boon especially for the poor section of the society, who earlier depended on lakes and wells for drinking water. Now they are getting clean and safe water at their homes, which is significantly improving their standard of living.

The Minister also said that along with the success of water supply schemes, serious efforts need to be made towards water conservation as well. Emphasizing on preventing misuse of water, he said that the objective of 'Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal' scheme is not limited to just water supply, but also to ensure conservation of water and its judicious use. The department will have to work towards continuous improvement for sustainability of water resources and proper management of water.

During his address on this occasion, Principal Secretary Shri Pankaj Kumar, while explaining the achievements of the department, said that the department has provided safe drinking water to more than 1,74,47,000 families so far, and the remaining target will be achieved soon, the department is continuously working in this direction. Similarly, in his address, Principal Secretary of Public Health Engineering Department, Shri Pankaj Kumar also discussed the challenges faced by the department regarding water supply schemes. The Principal Secretary informed that the department has adopted many innovations to effectively implement the water supply schemes. He particularly mentioned measures like Zero Office Day campaign, IoT (Internet of Things) technology and 'Pageal App', which are playing an important role in monitoring and managing water supply schemes. Through these initiatives, the department is monitoring the water supply schemes in real time and ensuring that all the schemes are running smoothly, thereby making progress towards better management of water supply.

The Principal Secretary further said that in future the department would further strengthen the monitoring of water supply schemes to ensure continuous supply of quality water to every household.