Arunachal urges Centre for Rs 926.97 cr

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh has urged the Centre for a special sanction of Rs 926.07 crore for providing safe drinking water to 1340 habitations under critical category.
State PHE minister Takam Pario made this appeal to meet the requirements of partial and uncovered rural habitations in the state in terms of safe drinking water facility, for which the state government has already submitted the proposal to the Centre, an official communiqué here said.
Pario, who had attended National Review/Discussion on National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) organised by Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation in New Delhi on Thursday last, said the proposal if considered would go a long way in helping the state to fulfill the envisaged target.
He stressed the need to enhance the unit cost and to consider the Centre’s and the state’s share at 90:10 for all components.
The minister also sought intervention from the union ministry in view of the constraints faced by the state, the communique said.
He appraised the need to incorporate a weightage on cost disability factor in the fund distribution criteria adopted to counterbalance the high discrepancy in the material, labour, transportation costs amongst the states.
He sought allocation of provisions along the line of Desert Area Development plan as cold desert development component for snowed areas to take care of difficult situations in terms of cost of constructions, high living cost and extra precautions required.
He also said the incentive being conceived in the ministry for bulk pipe water system in the quality affected habitations should be extended to the non quality affected habitations as well in view of the Centre’s strategy of promoting household level water connectivity in all habitations, the communiqué added. (PTI)