Bihar assembly Speaker reviews tap water scheme with MLAs, officials

Patna: Bihar assembly Speaker Prem Kumar on Friday convened a meeting with the public health engineering department (PHED) minister and senior officials of the panchayati raj department, urban development and housing department (UDHD), revenue and land reforms department and energy department to address concerns over the Har-Ghar-Nal-Jal Yojana raised during a call attention notice in the budget session, which concluded on Friday.It was decided that all MLAs would inform the department of complaints related to the scheme in their respective constituencies. PHED minister Sanjay Singh will hold district-wise meetings to resolve grievances linked to the scheme.MLAs across party lines pointed out that implementation by ward members across the state was extremely poor. Many pipes and taps are broken or non-functional due to non-payment of electricity bills. Land disputes over borewells and water tanks, along with non-payment of honorariums to tap water caretakers, have severely affected the scheme.Among those present were MLAs Mithilesh Tiwari, Vinay Kumar Chaudhary, Randhir Kumar Singh, Raju Tiwari, Subhash Singh, Kumar Sarvjeet, Jyoti Devi and Rahul Kumar. Principal secretary, revenue and land reforms department, CK Anil; principal secretary, UDHD, Vinay Kumar; Pankaj Kumar Pal, secretary, PHED; Manoj Kumar, secretary, panchayati raj department; Rahul Kumar, managing director of North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (NBPDCL); and other officials also attended.