Port Blair, Mar 9: The Lt. Governor, A&N Islands, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi today dedicated the newly constructed Water Treatment Plant at Tirur, Ferrargunj Tehsil by unveiling the plaque in the presence of the Chief Secretary, A&N Administration, Shri Anindo Majumdar, Principal Secretary (APWD), Shri Raajiv Yaduvanshi, Deputy Commissioner, Shri Udit Prakash Rai, Adhyaksh, ZPSA, Shri Jaydeep Kumar Dey, Chairperson, PBMC, Shri B. Eswar Rao, Chief Engineer, APWD, Shri Mathura Prasad and his team of officers, PRI members and residents of Tirur village. Soon after inaugurating the project, the Lt. Governor was briefed by the CE APWD about the functioning of the plant.
Expressing his satisfaction in dedicating the project, the Lt. Governor said, “today marks a happy occasion for the residents of Tirur, as they will now be accessible to clean and safe water”. He said, water is the elixir of life and ensuring availability of treated water is important for a healthy living adding that many diseases are water borne and leading to various stomach ailments, hence providing clean & safe water is the priority of the Administration for increasing the life span of the people and keeping diseases at bay.
The Lt. Governor said, about 72 water treatment plants have been so far established in the Islands providing clean water to 200 or more people in different villages. He further added that efforts will be to set up more Water Treatment Plants in areas wherever such facility is unavailable.
He said this project will cater to needs of around 3300 people of eight villages. He also expressed satisfaction that the treatment plant has been provided with a laboratory for monitoring the water quality which can be checked by the PRIs at anytime.
Informing the people about the ban imposed on tobacco products, the Lt. Governor said, the ban had to be imposed taking into account the growing number of oral cancer cases in the Islands. He said, during the year 2015, the number of oral cancer patients was 50 while it shot up to 86 cases in the subsequent year i.e. 2016, thus registering a 70% increase in oral cancer cases in one year. “If the situation persisted and left unattended, one can imagine what would have been the state of the Islands”, the Lt. Governor remarked. He said, his decision to ban tobacco in Isles was welcomed by people from all walks of life particularly the womenfolk.
Speaking about ill-effects of alcohol, the Lt. Governor said, liquor consumption was increasing at the rate of 20% per year in the Islands, largely due to ease of accessibility. To curtail the consumption, the Administration has brought in the new excise policy with effect from Jan 1, 2017. The Lt. Governor disclosed that his sole intention of putting a check on liquor consumption in the Islands is to save the coming generation from alcohol menace, to ensure that they are more productive and lead a healthy life. He said, focus is on to reduce liquor consumption by 20 % and in this direction, several steps have been taken by the Administration viz. regulation of sale of liquor timing to 6 hours, increase in rates, sale of liquor only through card payment, increasing the number of dry days. He said, all shops selling liquors in National/ State Highways have been directed to shut down by March 31, 2017 midnight.
About Health Sector, the Lt. Governor remarked that Primary Health Centers in the Islands are very good and well maintained. He opined that the PHCs in the Islands are far better than those in North India including Delhi. He said the Islands are lacking super specialty treatment facility and many initiatives have been taken by the Administration to augment the heath sector. He disclosed that, by June 1, this year, a Cath Lab will be inaugurated at G. B. Pant Hospital which will cater to all heart related ailments. Similarly, to cater to orthopedic related ailment, facilities for spinal surgery, knee/ hip replacement surgery will be made available from June 1 at G.B. Pant Hospital. The target of the Administration is to ensure that Islanders are provided with quality health care facilities so that the process of going to mainland for treating such diseases can be done away with, said the Lt. Governor.
The Lt. Governor complimented the APWD team for successful completion of the project, despite various hamstrings.
The Lt. Governor also called upon the people to come forward and express their grievances, if any, either to the Officers of the Administration or directly to him for mitigating the issues.
In his welcome address, the Principal Secretary (APWD), Shri Raajiv Yaduvanshi stated that the work for the project began in the year 2013 but was delayed due to cyclone Lehar which struck the Islands in 2014 and unavailability of quarry materials. He expressed satisfaction that despite the delay, the project was completed with the allocated fund of Rs. 2.47 crore. Elaborating on the project, he said the water treatment plant has the facility of one sedimentation tank, five slow sand filter units each having a capacity of 98000 litres , water reservoir having the capacity of 2.25 lakh litres, one pumping station and a Laboratory. The filter units were completed in June 2016 and laying of pipelines was completed in December 2016.
He said, the source of water for the plant is Tirur Nallah which has an average discharge of 20 lakh litres per day during rainy season and about 2.5 lakh litres per day during summer season. The water treatment plant will provide treated water to a population of 3300 people of eight villages viz. areas of Tirur, Collinpur, Herpetabad, Temple Myo, Manpur, Kurmadera, Lamba khadi, Kushiram khari. He said. He informed that APWD has planned for redistribution of water system in various villages and hence this will indirectly benefit the water supply to other villages as well.
In his address, the Adhyaksh, ZPSA, Shri Jaydeep Kumar Dey said with the inauguration of this project the long felt need of the residents of the area have been fulfilled. He expressed his gratitude to the Lt. Governor, Chief Secretary and other senior officers of the Administration for the fervent support. He also lauded the decision of the Administration to ban tobacco in the Islands and safeguarding the youth from alcohol menace.
While proposing the vote of thanks, the CE, APWD, Shri Mathura Prasad expressed gratitude to Smti. Parvathi Sarkar, a resident of Tirur for her generous contribution of land for setting up of water treatment plant.
As a token of appreciation, the Lt. Governor also presented a bouquet to Smti Parvathi Sarkar for her noble gesture.
Earlier, the students of Govt. Secondary School, Manpur presented a welcome song on the occasion.
