In the current financial year 2021-22, more than Rs. 40,000 Crore grant has been released to States/ UTs based on the output in terms of providing household tap water connections and utilization of available Central grant with matching State share.

The budget under Jal Jeevan Mission for 2022-23 has been enhanced to Rs. 60,000 Crore by the Central government, thereby making it evident, the importance of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ programme. Water is central for all developmental works and providing potable water will go a long way in ensuring ‘ease of living’ to the rural population living in far flung areas across the country.  

Despite CoVid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns and disruption in last two years, implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission has made significant progress and during the current financial year, more than 2.06 Crore rural households have been provided tap water connection. Presently, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Goa, Haryana, Puducherry and Telangana have become ‘Har Ghar Jal' States/ UT and every household in 106 districts and 1.45 lakh villages of the country, have tap water supply.

Since announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission on 15^th August, 2019, so far, more than 6 Crore households have been provided with tap water connections, thus increasing the tap water supply from 3.23 Crore (17%) to more than 9.35 Crore (48.4%) rural households in the country. This ‘speed and scale’ of the works being undertaken for making provision of clean drinking water to every rural household needs to be sustained to ensure all 6 lakh villages becomes “Har Ghar Jal’ by 2024.

The mission focuses on assured supply of potable water to every home and the work is not just limited to merely infrastructure creation. Massive training and skilling programme are being taken up to build the capacity of public health engineers, State and District officials and local community, ensuring active participation, regular monitoring and long-term sustainability of the infrastructure created. The mission envisages that Public Health Engineering Department and Gram Panchayats/ Village Water & Sanitation committee play the role of a public utility.

Women are the nuclei of the programme as they are the primary water managers. They are made part of Pani Samiti and Surveillance committee and are responsible for planning, maintenance, operation and management of the water supply system. As on date 4.78 lakh Pani Samiti have been constituted and over 3.91 lakh Village Action Plans have been developed which cover activities under water source strengthening, retrofitting of existing tap water connections, greywater management and maintenance of the infrastructure for the entire design cycle.

All the in-village water systems are being handed over to the Gram Panchayats who will in times to come become the custodian and will act as service providers for the public. Thus, Jal Jeevan Mission works on end-to-end approach which begins at provisioning tap water connections and culminates at sustenance.

 

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BY/AS

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