DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa has said that it is a matter of pride for the Punjab government that it achieved target of providing piped drinking water supply to more than 34 lakh rural households of Punjab during the year 2022. The Minister said that Punjab also got national honour by clinching the "Swachh Survekshan Gramin Awards" in year 2022. He said that many more such achievements of the first year of the Mann government will be taken to greater heights in the next four years. "The year 2022 is also important because the Chief Minister has started providing facilities to the villagers from their homes, living up to the pledge to run the government from the villages as soon as he assumed office," He said. The Punjab government has made a name for itself at the national level in providing the most important clean water facility for living. The target of providing piped drinking water supply to more than 34 lakh rural households has been achieved in 2022 itself, while the national target is to be achieved by 2024. Similarly, to supply clean water to arsenic and fluoride affected areas, various corrective measures have also been implemented on a large scale. He said that 192 community water purification plants (CWPPs) have been set up in 166 villages at a cost of Rs.16.77 crore based on ION exchange technology to reduce fluoride content in drinking water for drinking and cooking. On the other hand, State Government has released Rs. 34.44 crore to 5 divisions of Punjab named Rajpura, Fatehgarh Sahib, Fazilka, Abohar and Gurdaspur Division No. 1 for providing potable drinking water in the villages, where the groundwater was not drinkable. Jimpa said that the sewerage which was laid in Sri Anandpur Sahib in 1972 has been upgraded this year at a cost of Rs 8.73 crore. With this facility, the long pending demand of the residents and pilgrims of this internationally famous religious city has been fulfilled. The dirty water of the city which was contaminating the river water has been stopped now. Jimpa further said that Punjab has achieved 2nd position in North Zone for performance in 'Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2022' and was awarded prize of Rs. 1 crore by the Government of India (GoI). The State also won awards for wall painting competitions on ODF Plus- Biodegradable Waste management (Rank 1), Plastic Waste Management (Rank 3) and Grey Water management (Rank 3). Apart from this, 5.88 lakh households stand benefitted with Individual household toilets. Moving ahead, the State has achieved ODF Plus status for 750 villages under SBM (G) Phase II. (editor@dailyworld.in)