Panchayat to provide mineral water to people

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Mudichur village panchayat in Kancheepuram, barely 30 minutes drive from Chennai, will soon supply purified mineral water to all its residents at their doorsteps at a hugely subsidised price.

This will add one more feather to the panchayat which had bagged the President’s medal for public hygiene and sanitation in 2008.

Panchayat president P. Damodharan told Deccan Chronicle that the mineral water plan was inspired by his trip to Sweden, which had come along with the President’s award as a bonus. “I found that the local bodies in Sweden were supplying safe water to people to keep diseases away,” he said.

Mr Damodharan discussed the water plan with his officials and evolved a unique module in which they roped in a NGO to provide the expertise, bank credit to fund the treatment plant and self-help groups (SHGs) to supply the water cans at doorsteps without service charges.

“Sweet mineral water will reach all the 4936 homes by the next Republic Day. Work has already begun,” said the panchayat chief, sporting a proud smile.

“People are now spending about Rs 25 for a can of purified water. Our water will cost just `10 per can and drop to `5 once we repay our bank loan,” said Ms Nirmala Bhaskar, convenor, Mudichur women’s welfare association