Summary:
PATNA: Bihar deputy chief minister (CM) Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday promised to set up two more regional centres of the Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) at Gaya and Bhagalpur soon. While 3,467 habitats in 11 districts are affected by fluoride menace, altogether 17,833 habitats in nine districts have high concentration of iron in potable water. “Villages situated along the entire stretch of the Ganga have been declared open defecation free and more than one lakh trees planted on the banks of the river. The board already has two offices at Muzaffarpur and Barauni.Inaugurating a stakeholders’ meet on ‘Rejuvenation of River Ganga’ under the Far Ganga Collaborative Research Project to be jointly undertaken by the institutions of India and the UK at Bihar, SuMo said the research laboratories of the BSPCB would also be renovated and strengthened.“As many as 961 habitats (2,038 wards) in 13 districts of the state are affected by arsenic contamination. The government has already launched a project at an estimated cost of Rs 391 crore for providing clean drinking water to people,” SuMo said and promised to provide arsenic-free water by the end of 2019.According to the deputy CM, the government has launched an ambitious plan of setting up 20 sewage treatment plants at a cost of Rs 4,166 crore in the state..