Jal Jeevan Mission: Over 1Lakh villages get tap water connection under Har Ghar Jal scheme

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 71 districts, 824 blocks, 50,309 gram panchayats and 1,00,275 villages have been provided with tap connections in each house after nearly two years of launching the 'Har Ghar Jal' mission, said Jal Jeevan Mission Director, Bharat Lal. When the programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2019, only 17% of rural households in the country had tap water connections. After two years of the programme, the number has been increased to 40.77%.

Jal Jeevan Mission govt's priority:

Several states have successfully supplied tap water connections to all the rural households. These states include Goa, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. Rs 3.60 lakh crore have been allocated by the central government for the completion of the plan in the next three years. According to an official statement, “In 2021-22, Rs 26,940 crore has been allocated to States as 15th Finance Commission tied grant for water and sanitation to Rural Local Bodies/ PRIs. There is assured funding of Rs 1,42,084 crore for the next five years i.e. up to 2025-26. This huge investment in rural areas across the country, will accelerate economic activities and boost the rural economy. It will create new employment opportunities in villages.”

Under Jal Jeevan Mission, priority is given to water-scarce areas, quality-affected villages, aspirational districts, SC/ ST majority villages and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) villages. In the aspirational districts, tap water supply has increased from 7% to 33% in 117 aspirational districts. The statement further said that since PM Modi had announced a 100-day campaign on October 2 to ensure safe tap water to children in schools,  states/ UTs like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar Islands have ramped up the facilities for tap water in all schools. Central Government has also asked the states/ UTs to make provisions for safe tap water in the remaining schools, ashram shalas and Anganwadi centres for better health, improved sanitation and hygiene for children. Working in partnership with States, Jal Jeevan Mission is making all efforts to ensure tap water supply of adequate quantity and in prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis to every rural household in India by 2024.

(With ANI inputs)