SHILLONG: Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma, has expressed optimism that the government should be able to provide functional tap water connections to all rural households in the state by 2022.
After inspecting the ongoing works of the PHE department under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) at Sohiong in East Khasi Hills district on Saturday, he said, “We have a target of almost two lakh households in this financial year. The PHE department, under the leadership of PHE minister, is doing a tremendous job to pursue the completion of all works mandated under the programme and move forward aggressively even under such difficult circumstances (COVID-19 pandemic) that we are facing currently”.
Accompanied by PHE Minister, Samlin Malngiang, who is also the local MLA, Sangma along with a team of officials from the department, embarked on household visits to assess the implementation of JJM in the area.
During his visit, the chief minister interacted with the beneficiaries personally.
Piped water connection has ushered in much-anticipated convenience to most of these rural residents that depend on drawing water manually from distantly located water sources in the villages.
JJM is a project funded by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti which envisages in providing safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India.
The programme will also implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements such as recharge and reuse through grey water management, water conservation, rainwater harvesting.
Meghalaya has set a target of December 2022 for Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) to every rural household in the state.
Later in the day, Conrad had also visited the site of the Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme at Mawphlang and interacted with the officials from the concerned department.
