Chouhan outlines MP's development goals at Nairobi meet

Bhopal, Apr 17 (UNI) The Madhya Pradesh government, in association with the United Nations Human Settlement Programme's Water for Asian Cities Programme, is making efforts to halve by 2015 the number of people sans sustainable access to safe potable water and basic sanitation, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in Nairobi today.

''The initiative in Bhopal, Jabalpur, Indore and Gwalior is already being hailed as a fresh chapter in community-based urban potable water supply,'' he claimed while addressing the 21st Session of the Governing Council, a parallel event of UN-Habitat at the UN Complex in the Kenyan capital, official sources said here.

The community has taken the initiative to design, invest, implement and maintain potable water supply schemes.

Under the government's total sanitation campaign, more than three million households have been provided basic sanitation facilities. More than 400 villages were declared free from the curse of open defecation, Mr Chouhan added.

Claiming that his government followed the concept of Antyodaya, rise of the man at the lowest rung the Chief Minister explained that an action plan was being implemented to address several key issues of good governance including decentralisation, inclusion of the poor and marginalised, mobilisation of finance for local bodies, transparency, people's participation and capacity building.

''Ultimately, the objective is to establish a local representative government endowed with adequate administrative and financial powers to deliver mandated services to its citizens. In an effort to empower women and secure gender equality, we have reserved 50 per cent seats for women in local bodies. In the next local elections, more than 2.5 lakh women would represent their constituencies,'' he pointed out.

Now groups of stakeholders such as tribals, women, farmers, socially-weaker classes, sportsmen and forest-dwellers gather at various levels of administration to discuss design and content of programmes that best suit them and to ensure livelihood security and drought-proofing, a statewide Jal Abhishek Abhiyan was launched in April, 2006, Mr Chouhan said.

UNI