Varanasi: People in this ancient pilgrim city will soon enjoy the facility of the cheapest drinking water in the world with the setting up of a water purification plant at the historic Assi Ghat, Sulabh International founder Dr Bindeshwar Pathak said on Thursday.
Announcing the decision to set up the plant in collaboration with a French organisation ‘1001 Fontaines’, using its recently developed technology, Dr Pathak said the Ghat was recently cleaned by the NGO following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative as he himself had started cleaning and sweeping it a few months ago.
Under this new technology,contaminated water of river Ganga will be converted into pure drinking water at a very nominal cost. The proposed plant, to be established in three months time, will produce around 8000 litre of pure drinking water daily, he added. Sulabh has already established such plants in three places in West Bengal and trial have been completed.”Now we are going to replicate our new invention at Assiaghat,” he added.
The NGO will soon seek permission from authorities concerned for settings up of the plant. “we are going to approach government agencies and district administration to give us permission to setup plant around Assighat,” he said. “It is not a commercial venture at all. I am an inventor of a new water treatment technology so I wish to dedicate one for the people of Varanasi,” Dr Pathak added. The project cost of Rs. 20 lakh will be met with funds from Sulabh itself. water from the Ganga will be chemically treated to make it safe for drinking. It will cost only 50 paise per litre, making it the cheapest drinking water in the world. Using the innovative technology, water from any sources like rivers or ponds could be made to pass through various stages of purification to provide safe drinking water. “It will be sold at 50 paise after including other costs like distribution, storing, etc,” Dr Pathak said.
Sulabh along with the French organization had launched a pilot project in three West Bengal districts of North 24-Parganas, Murshidabad and Nadia a few months ago and the trial run proved successful. The new water purification plant has a capacity to produce 8,000 litres of potable water per day at a cost of 10 paise, he added. (UNI)
