Women testing water quality in rural areas doing great work: Swatantra Dev

State Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh has said the women who are engaged in water testing work in rural areas under the Jal Jeevan Mission are playing an important role in providing tap water to households.

Singh transferred around ₹53 lakh in the bank accounts of nearly 21,000 field test kit (FTK) trained women through direct benefit transfer (DBT) technology in a programme organised at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan here on Monday.

“After the women were tasked with testing the water quality under tap water scheme, the household tap connection scheme moved forward at a rapid pace while ensuring that the quality of water received in rural areas was pure,” he said.

“The pure drinking water is being supplied to the villages that had been in grip of water scarcity since decades. The scheme has brought about a quality transformation in the life of the people. The deaths of infants reported in Gorakhpur and neighbouring districts is now past with the curbing of water contamination,” Singh added.

“Women engaged in testing quality of water are involved in great humanitarian work. The state government has trained 4.8 lakh women and given them field test kits for water testing. The women volunteers are visiting households creating awareness among the villagers,” the minister said.

“Till 2019, there were only 5 lakh tap water connections in the state but over the next four years, 1.21 crore tap water connections have been provided. It’s a major achievement for the BJP government’s endeavour to make a difference in the living standard of the poor residing in the rural areas,” he added.