VENKAIAH NAIDU REVIEWS DRINKING WATER SCHEMESFUNDS RELEASED TO AP, MP AND TAMILNADU

The Minister of Rural Development Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu today reviewed the progress of the schemes under the Department of Drinking Water and the shortage of drinking water in different parts of the country. The Minister has urged the states to submit the Utilisation Certificates of the funds released under the schemes to facilitate release of further funds. The Minister said he will write letters to all the states to expedite the process. The Ministry has released Rs.11.22 crore from the budget for the year 2002-03 to Andhra Pradesh for the District Water and Sanitation Mission of Guntur District. The amount is the first instalment of the central share of Rs.3740 crore. The total approved project cost is Rs.40.00 crore for implementation of sector reform pilot project in the district to institutionalise community participation in Rural Water Supply Programme. The Ministry also released Rs.83.95 lakh to four district of Andhra Pradesh under sub mission programme under Drinking Water Supply. While Khammam district gets Rs.52.95 lakh, Prakasham gets Rs.20.00 lakh, Krishna gets Rs.6.00 lakh and Guntur Rs.5.00 lakh as the final instalments. The Ministry has also released Rs.357.26 lakhs to Madhya Pradesh under sub mission programme of Drinking Water Supply. Out of this Rs.197.20 lakh is meant for Mandla district. Rs.112.83 lakh is for the first phase and Rs.84.37 lakh is meant for the Phase II project in Mandla district. While, Rs.145.06 lakh has released for Ujjain district as the second instalment, Rs.15.00 lakh has been released for Shivpuri as the third instalment. Rs.99.83 lakh has also been released for three districts of Tamil Nadu. They are Salem (Rs.20.00 lakh), Dharmapuri (Rs.27.99 lakh) and Trichy (Rs.51.84 lakh).