E-Paper
States told to create digital IDs of Jal Jeevan mission assets
The Centre urged states to create digital IDs for assets under the Jal Jeevan Mission to ensure transparency in rural water supply by November-end.
New Delhi: The Centre on Friday asked states to create digital IDs of assets created under the Jal Jeevan Mission, a flagship programme for piped drinking water connections in rural households, a step aimed at ensuring transparency, Union secretary for drinking water and sanitation, Ashok Meena said.
At a high-level meet with representatives of several states in the national capital, officials made a demonstration of a digitised rural piped water supply schemes (RPWSS) module, which will serve as a centralised monitoring dashboard.
“RPWSS will act as a digital registry for rural piped water supply schemes and it will feature a roll out of unique RPWSS IDs, which is a step towards smarter and efficient operation and maintenance of rural water infrastructure,” Meena said.
The Centre has urged all states and Union territories to complete the creation of RPWSS IDs by November-end to ensuring “full data integrity and coverage”, the official said.
The Jal Jeevan scheme aims to connect each of India’s 194.2 million rural households with tap-water connections by 2024-end. Under the mission, a family is provided 55 litres of clean water per day per person.
On June 26, Jal Shakti (water) minister CR Patil had said robust checks were being carried out on complaints of cost escalation in the Jal Jeevan mission. “If mistakes were made, they will be rectified and no one will be spared, whether it is a contractor or anyone,” he had said.
In July, HT had reported that the Centre had told states that it would not fund “additional liabilities” outside the scope of the flagship drinking-water programme, quoting two people aware of the matter.
States and Union territories have committed to ensuring all rural water supply assets are accurately reflected on the portal, Meena said.
