SHILLONG, Feb 25: Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma today asserted that Meghalaya already has a water policy which is being implemented through the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). The state has achieved 14 per cent success so far, he added.
Sangma was reacting to the order of the division bench of the High Court of Meghalaya directing the Meghalaya government to formulate a policy clearly laying down a roadmap for providing potable and arsenic-free water to citizens who do not have access to it.
The chief minister admitted that providing drinking water to all households in the state was a massive challenge since only 1% of rural households had access to potable water prior to the start of the JJM.
“The state government and the PHE department is aggressively working and within a few months we have moved to 14 %,” Sangma said while expressing optimism that the state would achieve the target of 100% in the coming months.