315 water supply schemes of Rs. 9,544 Crore approved under Jal Jeevan Mission for Jharkhand.These schemes will providetap water supply to about 8 lakh rural households in 4,424 villages of the State.

On 15^th August 2019, at the time of launch of Jal Jeevan Mission, only 3.45 lakh (5.83%) rural homes in Jharkhand had tap water supply. In 28 months, despite Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown disruptions, the State has provided tap water connection to 6.73 lakh (11.38%) households. As on date, out of 59.23 lakh rural household in the State, 10.18 lakh (17.20%) are getting tap water supply in their homes.

Under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), there is provision for constitution of State Level Scheme Sanctioning Committee (SLSSC) for consideration and approval of schemes to be taken up for making provision of tap water supply to rural households. The SLSSC acts as a State level Committee to consider water supply schemes/ projects, and a nominee of the National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM), Government of India is a member of the committee.

This year, the Union Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat allocated Rs. 2,479.88 Crore, which is four-fold increase from last year’s allocation. Union Minister, Jal Shakti, while approving the four-fold increase assured full assistance to the State for making provision of tap water supply in every rural home by 2024.So far, Rs 512.22 Crore has already been released to Jharkhandto ensure that there is no dearth of money for speedy implementation of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ programme. With the physical progress of mission works with commensurate financial progress in the State, further fund will be released to the State. Govt of India is committed to provide all assistance to State to ensure every rural household gets tap water supply in their homes.

Further, in 2021-22, Rs 750 Crore has been allocated to Jharkhand as 15th Finance Commission tied grant for water & sanitation to Rural Local Bodies/ PRIs. There is an assured funding of Rs 3,952 Crore for the next five years i.e. up to 2025-26.

In the meeting, NJJM team emphasized the need for speedy implementation, effective community participation, ensuring quality of works undertaken, effective monitoring for proper fund utilization.

To ensure safe tap water to children in schools, ashramshalas and anganwadi centres in the country, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced 100-days campaign, which was launched by the Union Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on 2^nd October 2020. Tap water provided in learning centres is used by children and teachers for drinking, cooking mid-day meal, hand washing and in toilets. So far only7,447 schools (17%) and 1,755(4%) anganwadi centres in Jharkhand have been provided tap water supply in their premises. There is urgent need to speed up the work in the learning centres so that safe water is supplied to children.

Jal Jeevan Mission is implemented in a decentralized manner following the ‘bottom up’ approach, wherein the local village community plays a key role starting from planning to implementation, management to operation and maintenance. To achieve this, the State Government has to undertake support activities like strengthening the Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Pani Samiti, developing of Village Action Plan for each village for the next five years, engaging Implementing State Agencies (ISAs) to handhold and support village communities, carry out massive awareness among people. Jharkhand needs to train more than 2 lakh people in rural areas to ensure long-term sustainability and operation & maintenance of the water supply infrastructure for assured water supply to every home.

Under Jal Jeevan Mission, community is being encouraged to carry out surveillance of water sources and delivery points from time-to-time to ascertain the quality of water supplied. PHE Department is training and facilitating the village communities to undertake regular water quality testing in their villages. In Jharkhand ‘Jal Sahiyas’ are playing an important role in water quality testing. They are an important cadre of drinking water service delivery at grassroots, often seen actively engaged in activities related to implementation of JJM. 

With focus on public health, potability of water supplied is given top priority, for which 30 water quality testing laboratories in Jharkhand have been opened to general public so that people can get their water samples tested whenever they so desire at a nominal cost.

Working in line with ‘SabkaSath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and SabkaPrayas’, Jal Jeevan Mission’s motto is ‘no one is left out’ and it aims at universal access to the potable tap water supply. At the start of the mission in 2019, out of a total of 19.20 Crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 Crore (17%) had tap water supply. During the last 28 months, despite Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns disruptions, Jal Jeevan Mission has been implemented with speed and today, 5.50 Crore rural households have been provided with tap water connections. Presently, 8.74 Crore (45.51%) rural household across the country have tap water supply. States of Goa, Telangana, Haryana and UTs of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry, D&NH and D&D have ensured 100% household tap connection in rural areas. At present, every household in 84 districts and more than 1.30 lakh villages are receiving tap water supply.

 

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