Govt. to install Solar based drinking water system in Maoist-hit areas

Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday informed Lok Sabha about the plan for the installation of 10,000 solar power based water systems in order to provide safe drinking water to the people residing in 78 Maoist-affected areas.

The Minister said that the solar-based system would prove quite beneficial in solving the drinking water problems for the people living in the naxal-affected areas.

The project will be funded from the National Rural Drinking Water Programme and the National Clean Energy Fund.

Union Minister informed that solar-based water systems will be installed in the 78 maoist-affected districts to fulfil the requirement of drinking water scarcity in these areas.

"About Rs.540 crore have been earmarked for this project and 200 such systems have already been set up in Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra," he said.

-With inputs from IANS