Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Jun 13, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Jun 13, 2002 |
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Industry & Economy
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Environment World Bank aid sought for arsenic centre in Kolkata Our Bureau
HYDERABAD, June 12 THE Union Ministry of Rural Development is planning to set up an Arsenic Mitigation Centre in Kolkata soon, according to the Minister, Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu. "We have already talked to the World Bank seeking their technical collaboration in establishing the centre," he told Business Line. Arsenic contamination of groundwater and drinking water is a major problem in West Bengal and also neighbouring Bangladesh. Indian research institutes such as the Jadavpur University, the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and others have been seized of this problem and are evolving ways of tackling this form of growing water pollution. Mr Venkaiah Naidu said the initiative on arsenic was one of the several approaches his Ministry was taking to improve the overall quality of drinking water in the country. "Techniques to improve quality are expensive and therefore efforts are needed to develop low-cost and effective solutions to our problems,'' he said. The Ministry has identified a total of 2.17 lakh villages in the country which lack quality drinking water, with problems ranging from arsenic, nitrate, fluorideexcess iron contamination to salinity and brackishness. The depleting groundwater table has aggravated the water quality problems, especially the chemical form resulting in excess fluoride as in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh or arsenic in the 24 Paraganas district in West Bengal. States have been authorised to sanction sub-mission projects under the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP). Under the ARWSP, funds are provided to States to make provisions for safe drinking water in rural habitations. Up to 20 per cent of the funds can be utilised by the State Governments to take up projects under the sub-mission programme. During the financial year 2001-02, the Centre released a total of Rs 1,700.29 crore up to February, while the States' share was of the order of Rs 2,152 crore.
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