Chandrapur: Seven villages in Warora tehsil will soon be getting clean and safe drinking water round-the-clock, thanks to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of GMR Warora Energy Limited (GWEL), a subsidiary of GMR Energy.
The company will be installing water ATMs in these seven villages of Charurkhati, Chinora, Chikni, Dongargaon, Dahegaon, Nimsada and Majara (Raj) where all the water sources are polluted with high content of nitrate and fluoride. A total of 11,000 villagers will be benefited by this project when the water ATMs will be inaugurated on Saturday by union minister of state for chemical and fertilizers, Hansraj Ahir.
The villagers are being provided with water ATM cards which they can recharge by paying cash. They can get pure and safe drinking water from the ATMs on 24X7 basis to a maximum limit of 15 litres/day. Water will be charged at 30 paisa per litre. The company that has installed the water ATMs will maintain them for next 15 years and GWEL will pay for it. Later all the water ATMs will be handed over to the concerned gram panchayats for operation and maintenance.
GWEL, which owns and operates a coal based thermal power plant of 2X300MW capacity in Mohabala MIDC, had conducted surveys to identify villages in Warora Block. It was found that the main source of drinking water, for most of these villages, is groundwater drawn through bore-well, handpumps, wells etc which were contaminated.
This was causing health problems like arthritis, yellow and cracked teeth, joint pain, crippled limbs, stomach related problems and kidney stones among others. Besides, high nitrate levels in water hinders the normal growth processes of infants and reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of blood.
GWEL spokesperson Vinod Pusadkar said, “It is our responsibility to do our bit to fulfil Prime Minister’s dream of a clean India. We have installed water ATMs with RO plants at the villages so that the villagers get clean and safe drinking water. Capacity of each ATM machine is 1000 litres/hour. This initiative would help them get rid of several health problems caused by contaminated drinking water.”
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