Punjab, Haryana, HP, J-K, Ladakh to give tap water connections to each rural household by 2022

New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will provide tap water connections to all rural households by the end of the year, the Jal Shakti Ministry said on Saturday.

Rs 50,000 crore has been allocated in this year's Budget for the Jal Jeevan Mission that aims to provide tap water connections to rural households by 2024.  The ministry, in a statement, said, "It has been decided that in the five northwestern states and UTs -- Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh -- implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission will be expedited and every rural household will be provided with tap water connections by 2022, instead of by 2024." To enable these states and Union Territories to achieve this goal by 2022, the Jal Shakti Ministry has approved a central allocation of Rs 8,216.25 crore in 2021-22, it said.

This is more than four times the allocation to these states and UTs in 2020-21.

In Haryana, out of 31.03 lakh households, only 17.67 lakh (57 per cent) had piped water connections before the announcement of the Jal Jeevan Mission on August 15, 2019.

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, 10.24 lakh rural households have been provided tap water connections in 21 months. With this 33 per cent increase in tap water connections, now 28.34 lakh (91.32 per cent) rural homes in Haryana are getting tap water supply.

The ministry said 5,150 villages, 68 blocks and eight districts in the state have full tap water supply and eight more districts have more than 90 per cent of houses with piped water connection.

Haryana has planned to provide tap water connections to 2.61 lakh households in 2021-22 and to the remaining 1.48 lakh households in 2022-23, it said.

At the time the mission was launched, out of 17.03 lakh households in Himachal Pradesh, only 7.62 Lakh (45 per cent) had a tap water supply. In these 21 months, 5.45 lakh (32 per cent) households have been provided with tap water connections.

Now, 13.08 lakh (76.7 per cent) rural homes in Himachal Pradesh have tap water supply and three districts, 11 blocks and 8,638 villages in the state have become 'Har Ghar Jal'.

The state is planning to provide tap water supply to every rural household of all 18,079 villages by 2022, the ministry said.

In Punjab, only 16.78 lakh (48 per cent) rural households had tap water supply before the start of the mission. In the last 21 months, 9.97 lakh rural households were provided with a tap water connection.

With this 28.7 per cent increase, now, 26.75 lakh (77 per cent) rural households in Punjab get tap water supply. Under the mission, it is planned to provide 8.87 lakh households with tap water connections in 2021-22.

Out of 18.16 lakh rural households in Jammu and Kashmir, only 5.75 lakh (31.7 per cent) households had piped water supply before the mission. In these 21 months, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown and disruptions, 4.30 lakh (23.69 per cent) households have been provided tap water connections.

In Jammu and Kashmir, 10.05 lakh (55.7 per cent) rural households are getting tap water supply. It has planned to provide tap water connections to 4.91 lakh households in 2021-22 and to 3.27 lakh households in 2022-23, the ministry said.

In the case of Ladakh, only 1,414 (3.2 per cent) homes had a tap water supply before the mission began. Under the JJM, in 21 months 2,760 (6.4 per cent) households have been provided with tap water connections.

Despite challenges like difficult terrain, adverse weather and sparsely located habitations, Ladakh has planned to provide tap water connections to 28,788 households in 2021-22 and 11,568 households in 2022-23, the ministry added. PTI PR NSD NSD