CSR funds must be used to instal water purification units: CM

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday suggested that companies should spend their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to instal drinking water purification units in villages hit by ground or surface water contamination.

Speaking after dedicating 300 water purification units to the State, Siddaramaiah said the government was keen to instal such units in around 6,000 villages where water has high nitrate, fluoride and arsenic content.

Each unit costs Rs 10 lakh and it would not be possible for the government alone to bear the cost. The chief minister said that with the Companies Act requiring corporates with market capitalisation of more than Rs five crore to spend two per cent of their annual net profits on CSR, such funds could be utilised to set up the units.

According to sources in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, the water kiosks are also partly funded by the Centre under the National Rural Drinking Water Project.

Funds sanctioned

Last year, 20 per cent of the Rs 2,093 crore sanctioned for the project was used for setting up the kiosks.

As many as 3,200 habitations in the State have contaminated water, and hence, the Centre’s fund is used for providing clean water.

Of the 1,000 kiosks planned in the first phase, 300 have been made operational. This year, another 2,000 are scheduled to be opened. The State takes contributions from private organisations, local bodies or elected representatives for the units which do not get Centre’s fund.

Providing pure drinking water to the rural population was a major challenge ahead. But the government was committed to keeping the population healthy by giving them access to pure drinking water, he said. The units are based on the Any Time Water (ATW), where water is supplied for 10 paise a litre. He also urged the legislators to utilise their MLA Local Area Development Fund to instal pure drinking water units. Siddaramaiah also inaugurated one such unit in the Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil said another 500 units will be installed by September 15.

The government aims at making the State disease-free and providing access to clean drinking water was essential to achieve the goal.

Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa and Legislative Council Chairperson D H Shankaramurthy urged all the legislators to involve themselves in getting such units to their constituencies.