More than 1600 water supply schemes are incomplete in Lumbini

However, among the more than 3,000 water supply projects that were started according to the resolution, more than 1,600 projects have been stalled due to lack of funds.

It was the policy of the state government to take the help of the federal government to complete the drinking water scheme. When the state government passed the resolution, the federal government handed over 680 big projects to the state.

The government claimed that clean drinking water will be provided to all the residents of all the 12 districts of Lumbini province by completing more than 3,000 schemes in 6 years by the big and small ones of the state . However, even after 5 years have passed since the resolution was passed, more than 1,600 water supply projects in the province have been stalled due to lack of budget. Some of the plans have not yet started.

The provincial government has not been able to pay nearly 300 million of the 174 schemes that were implemented in the last year due to lack of budget. More than 68 schemes have been completed in the current year. More than 100 crores of that plan is yet to be paid . The government had allocated 1.54 billion rupees under the title of water supply scheme in the current year. For that purpose, 1,603 drinking water schemes were selected in all 12 districts of the province, including lift, gravity, dipboring and small schemes.

According to the Minister of Urban Development and Water Supply, Bhumishwar Dhakal, the provincial government had passed the 'One House, One Stream' resolution in the year 2075/076 with the aim of providing clean drinking water to all the citizens of Lumbini Province.

At that time, we had passed the one house, one water resolution proposal according to the provincial policy of building some additions along with the 680 water supply plans handed over by the federal government, he said. He said that the budget has been managed in such a way that all the plans that have been created so far will be paid and many projects will be completed in the coming year.

5 years ago, the cost of the drinking water scheme handed over to the state government by the union was estimated at 25 billion 56 crores . More than 100 of them have been completed. The province had added nearly 1,500 schemes. Among them, nearly 1,500 schemes have been completed. The cost of the remaining 1,603 water supply schemes has reached nearly 25 billion.

The cost of the plan handed over by the federal government is more than 14 billion . Gunanidhi Pokharel, Senior Division Engineer, Head of the Water Supply Division of the Ministry of Urban Development and Water Supply of the province and spokesperson of the Ministry, said that it will cost 24 billion 92 million 78 lakh rupees for the union and state plans.

'16 billion 97 million 77 thousand has been paid for the projects completed till last year, 1 billion 54 million has been allocated in the current year,' he said, 'in the current situation, now 24 billion 92 million 78 million is needed  He said that among the 12 districts of the province, Rupandehi, Arghakhanchi, Pyuthan, Banke, Bardia, Kapilvastu and other districts have yet to be paid and 90 percent of the amount will be paid by the end of the current year. He also said that there is an obligation to pay 300 million rupees and efforts are being made in the Ministry of Economic Affairs to pay all the amount.

Pumping, gravity and deep-boring drinking water schemes have been selected in the hilly districts. When the government passed the resolution, less than 15 percent of households in Lumbini province were consuming safe drinking water.

now it has increased to 89.83 percent . Minister Dhakal said that 378 deep borings in the Terai, 1220 intake constructions and 189 lift projects in the hilly districts have been completed by the middle of Chaitra of the current year.

The provincial government has classified drinking water as safe, basic, unsafe, limited and surface water based on the quality of drinking water, the time it takes to bring water, the nature of the stream and the condition of the source. Based on that classification, they are now working on finding springs, building tanks and streams. If there is a private stream, 12 months of water supply, good quality and one batch of water can be brought within 5 minutes, it is considered safe and access to drinking water.

Minister Dhakal said that the government has prioritized the water supply plan in the coming year so as to complete the resolutions proposed by the provincial government. For that, only 2 billion more money has been allocated for the project from the state government in the coming year . "We have also made a special request to the federal government," he said. Only in Arghakhanchi, 127 small and big schemes are in operation . Due to lack of funds, only nine schemes were completed this year. All the rest are stalled,' he said, 'Last year's 100 million more payment obligation remains, almost 100 million work has been done in the current year as well.' He said that 90 percent of the pumping projects are in Arghakhanchi and their cost is also high. There are 156 schemes in Pyuthan. More than 6 crores of 26 completed schemes are yet to be paid.