September 1, 2015
Nadia, North 24 Parganas to be arsenic-free by next year: PHE Minister
West Bengal Government has taken initiative to make the districts of Nadia and North 24 Parganas arsenic-free by next year. Out of the 83 arsenic-affected blocks in the state 38 are in these two districts.
State Public Health Engineering Minister Subrata Mukherjee said the measures are being taken to complete the work by next summer. By this time, all the blocks in these two districts could be connected with pipelined arsenic-free drinking water. The PHE Dept is also working on making the ground and surface water arsenic free.
The PHE dept has allotted Rs 561 crore for the 17 blocks of Nadia district and Rs 738 crores for the 21 blocks of North 24 Parganas in this purpose.
Eight districts of the State have arsenic-related problems. The Government has given maximum importance to fight this cause.
The prime responsibility of the PHE Dept is to supply pipelined drinking water to all the villages and fight arsenic-related problems, the PHE Minister said.
