India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $240 million loan agreement to provide safe drinking water to about 1.65 million people in three districts of West Bengal. The agreement was signed by Ministry of Finance Additional Secretary Sameer Kumar Khare for the Indian government and ADB’s India Resident Mission Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama for the multilateral lending agency.

Aim of the project:-

• The project aims to provide safe and sustainable drinking water to people in Bankura, North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur affected by arsenic, fluoride and salinity.
• Heavy reliance on groundwater puts most of the rural population in West Bengal at risk from arsenic and fluoride contamination that can lead to health problems including cancer and bone diseases.  
• The project aims to mitigate these risks through provision of continuous potable water through metered connections to about 390,000 individual households in the three districts.
• The project is expected to get completed by 2024.

Benifits of the project :-                                                                                                                                                                                                 

1. The project will help mitigate the health risks from using groundwater with elevated levels of arsenic and fluoride.
2. Besides reducing the burden of diseases from contaminated groundwater, it will promote higher service levels compared with rural schemes in India with individual household connections.
3. it will support the state in strengthening its smart water management system, improve flood-related early warning and response, and provide training on operation and maintenance as well as climate change and disaster resilience.
4. 350 jobs expected out of which two third of the jobs  for women.
5. Total cost of the project:-$349million 

• a grant of $3 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.
• a $2 million grant from ADB’s Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund.
• a $240million loan from ADB.
• $106million from West Bengal govt .

About ADB:-

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. It assists its members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development. its has its headquarter located in Manilla, Phillipines...