New Delhi, July 26 : The Hans Foundation, an independent charitable trust fund, has announced 'Nirmal Khora Village' a program initiated to improve the sanitation, waste disposal and drainage system at Khora village, 'Asia's biggest labour colony'.
The project is designed to improve the overall condition of Khora village and provide a better quality of life to its residents.
The CEO, The Hans Foundation, Lt Gen S. M. Mehta (Retd) along with Honb'le Minister of State - External Affairs, Govt. of India, Gen. V K Singh (Retd) inaugurated the program and addressed the residents of Som Baazar, Adarsh Nagar, Khora Colony.
Khora Village is not regularised and is marred with improper waste management, sanitation and drainage system.
To provide clean drinking water to the residents of the village, 5 water ATMs have been installed. The Water ATMs come with a capacity of 75,000 litres of water per day and will give people access to high quality safe drinking water at the most competitive nominal charge in the area.
The ATM's operate as cashless vending machines for dispensing water and are powered on both electricity and solar mode.
Beneficiaries use a rechargeable smart card to draw out water from the kiosk. This can cater up to 750 households per day per machine. Sanitation, waste disposal and drainage has been a bigger problem in the Khora Village. There is a total absence of waste management in the area with no waste pickers, most drains remain blocked with foul water overflowing on the streets as well as sometimes get into the houses which poses a serious health threat.
The problem compounds in the rainy season. To deal with the issue, The Hans Foundation will introduce waste management in the two selected area of the Khora Colony wherein arrangement would be made to buy rickshaws and hire local people to pick the waste, segregate it and arrange it to be disposed.
Making the announcement, Gen. S. M. Mehta, CEO, The Hans Foundation said, "We believe that every individual has the right towards basic amenities like clean drinking water, sanitation and a conducive environment to breathe.
Our efforts will also involve lot of community mobilization, awareness and involvement of local bodies.
The idea is to create a model in this cluster and replicate it in other parts of Khora to transform it from an urban slum to a model colony." In the first phase, The Hans Foundation (THF) will be providing water and sanitation services to 5000 houses in the selected cluster of Khora Village and after the success of the initial phase, the foundation will expand reach in other parts of the village.
