NEW DELHI: Within a month of state government submitting a plan to provide piped drinking water to all rural households, two years before the national target through the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the Centre has expressed concern over its slow progress in the state, especially in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, in a letter to the Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, urged him to take up the work immediately in a ‘campaign mode’ in 3,891 villages which have piped water supply schemes.
In the wake of the pandemic, it is important that people don’t crowd public stand-posts/public water sources, the Union minister said while asking the state to take up water supply works in all villages to provide household tap connections, which will help in practising social distancing, and will additionally help locals/ migrants in getting employment and boost the rural economy.
Priority is to be given to saturation of villages in aspirational districts, SC/ST dominant villages/ habitations and villages covered under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, the minister said.
Shekhawat stressed on the need for proper planning to achieve the goal of JJM within the timeframe with focus on retrofitting/augmentation of existing water supply systems to provide tap connections to remaining households.
Under Jal Jeevan Mission, funds are provided by the Centre based on the output in terms of household tap connections provided and the utilisation of available funds.
Against the target of providing tap connections to 1.17 lakh households in 2019-20, only 1,800 tap connections were given in Meghalaya. Further, the state was allocated Rs 86.02 crore in 2019-20, but due to slow progress of works only Rs 43.01 crore was released, out of which the state could only spend Rs 26.35 crore, leaving an unspent balance of Rs 17.46 crore.
He informed the chief minister that the allocation for Meghalaya has been increased to Rs 174.92 crore in 2020-21, and with an opening balance of Rs 17.46 crore the state has assured availability of Rs192.38 crore; with the matching state share, it will have Rs 216 crore during 2020-21 for implementation of JJM.
Shekhawat stressed that providing potable water to every rural household is a national priority and the state should make efforts to accomplish the goal in a time-bound manner. He emphasized on the importance of water sources for the long-term sustainability of water supply systems.
The planning should be done at the village level and Village Action Plan (VAP) of every village is to be prepared by dovetailing all available resources by the convergence of different programmes . It was emphasised that local village community/local bodies and user groups need to be involved in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of water supply systems in villages to ensure long-term sustainability to achieve drinking water security.
