Director General, National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Shri Bharat Lal said that “Har Ghar Nal Se Jal” under Jal Jeevan Mission will be completed by 2024 as it is being implemented in a unique bottom-up and decentralized approach by mobilizing over Five Lakh Paani Samitis/ Village Water and Sanitation Committees(VWSC) to manage and operate village water supply infrastructure.

Shri Lal said that Jal Jeevan Mission was announced by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 15thAugust, 2019 to provide every rural household with tap water connection by 2024 and he added that in August, 2019, out of about 19.35 Crore rural households, only 3.23 Crore (16.72%) had access to tap water, but today over 11 Crore (56.84%) rural households have tap water supply in their households.

Shri Lal was addressing a conference on “Water Security for high Economic Growth & Prosperity at the 14th South Asia Conference on Think20@G20, organized by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses (MP - IDSA) in New Delhi. 

Shri Lal said that after the Prime Minister Modi gave a call that not a single household should be left out of this noble mission, the scheme is being implemented in a very democratic manner to achieve 100 percent saturation of tap water connection without any discrimination whether it is tribal area or it’s a remote forest area.

DG, NCGG said that as per the recommendation of 15th Finance Commission, in the next six years, i.e. 2019-10 to 2025-26, Rs 1.72 Crore is being provided to the Panchayats to manage water resources. He said, 13 rivers are also being included for revival this year and making them clean, water-rich and usable and added that water security is closely linked with the Socio-economic development of the country.

Shri Lal said, to ensure adequate water availability to every part of the country, the concept of inter-basin transfer or inter-linking of rivers is being promoted and this approach is also being promoted for integrated water management throughout the country. He said, in tune with Prime Minister’s call for making water everyone’s business, there is a need for use of advanced technology, whether it is for water treatment or utility based development. 

Shri Lal said, when Shri Modi became Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, it was a water scarcity State and daily more than 10, 000 road tankers and two water trains were deployed to carry drinking water to Saurashtra in the Kutch region and other deficient parts of the state. He said, post 2002 reforms, not only solved the water scarcity crisis of Saurashtra, but also ensured its rapid industrialization along with other regions, as the first step of water security was taken appropriately tackled. Shri Modi is implementing his “Water Vision” as Gujarat Chief Minister from 2001 to 2014, to a New Avatar of Jal Jeevan Mission during his second stint as Prime Minister since August, 2019.

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