The district panchayat is all set to modify its highly successful ‘Jalasree’ project. Going one step further, the local body will revise the scheme with the involvement of individuals rather than schools. With the implementation of the new project, the local body aims to recharge wells in the district. The mission is part of extending the activities of Jalasree, the district panchayat’s drinking water distribution scheme. Last year, the project mainly focused on recharging wells in schools.
This year, Jalasree will be a combined project funded by the district and grama panchayats. The 2018-2019 project will also focus on individual beneficiaries.“According to 2017-2018 project, we have put forward a proposal to schools in order to collect the rainwater from school buildings,” Subash V, district panchayat secretary, told Express.
“We kept the proposal in front of around 880 schools in the districts. Even after conducting frequent meetings with school authorities explaining the project and its benefits, only 254 schools came forward to sign an agreement. As of now, the project has been implemented only in 46 schools and the work to implement this in the rest of the schools is in progress,” he said.
As per the panchayat’s norm, a committee assigned by the school is responsible to complete the project and the fund will be provided only after the completion of work. “We cannot provide an advance amount before finishing the work because of which many schools were not willing to get into an agreement with us,” said Subash.