Tap water connections provided to 40 million rural households so far: Govt

According to the Jal Shakti ministry, Goa and Telangana and the Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have become ‘Har Ghar Jal' states/UT as they have been able to provide tap water supply to every rural household.

Forty million households have been provided with tap water connections so far under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a flagship scheme of the government which was announced in 2019, according to the Jal Shakti ministry. The mission aims to provide tap water supply to all rural households by 2024. “Since the announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission on 15th August, 2019, so far, four Crore households have been provided with tap water connections, thus increasing the tap water supply from 3.23 Crore (17%) to more than 7.20 Crore (37.6%) rural households in the country,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

The government also apprised that in the financial year 2020-21, an allocation of ₹11,000 crore was made under JJM and the grants for individual states and union territories. (Pramod Thakur/HT File Photo)

The ministry also said Gujarat is one of the best performing states and has overcome water scarcity. “Gujarat is among the best performing States which is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission to ensure tap water supply to every home. Gujarat has started a decentralised, demand-driven community-managed water supply programme way back in 2002 and has become a model. Gujarat, which was known for water supply through road tankers and even trains, has made water scarcity is thing of the past,” it added.

According to the Jal Shakti ministry, Goa and Telangana and the Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have become ‘Har Ghar Jal' states/UT as they have been able to provide tap water supply to every rural household.

“Presently, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Goa and Telangana States have become ‘Har Ghar Jal' States/ UT and every household in 55 districts and 85,000 villages of the country, have tap water supply," Jal Shakti ministry said in the statement.

The government also apprised that in the financial year 2020-21, an allocation of ₹11,000 crore was made under JJM and the grants for individual states and union territories. Under the scheme, the government has now approved ₹465 crore for seven states which include Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The government also added that the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim have been chosen for the incentive as they are also among the best states in terms of performance under JJM.