SHILLONG, April 4: Public Health Engineering Minister, Renikton L Tongkhar said the target of providing potable tap water to more than 5.08 lakh rural households under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) will be achieved by December this year.
He told reporters that the government has already provided potable tap water to 2.30 lakh targeted households under the central scheme.
“We have managed to cover around 40%. I am sure we will be able to provide tap water to the remaining 60%. It may sound impossible to many but I am very confident of achieving the target although a lot of work needs to be done,” Tongkhar said.
He insisted the mission would be possible with the help of the line departments. The PHE Minister said the scheme is being implemented in 5.32 lakh of the remaining households while the detailed project report is being prepared for 80,000 more.
“I am sure we will get the sanction once the DPR is prepared and the survey completed,” he said.
Tongkhar claimed Meghalaya is among six states in the country that received performance incentives for the satisfactory implementation of the JJM.
“We got Rs 400 crore as performance incentives on March 30 and were able to deposit the matching state share the following day. This reflects the seriousness of both the Centre and state governments to provide potable tap water to the rural households,” he said.
He admitted that price escalation and poor availability of GI pipes had affected the implementation of the JJM initially.
“But the supply of pipes is quite good now. We are also allowing the use of HDPE pipes in place of GI pipes in certain areas only for distribution. We have no problem as far as availability of HDPE pipes is concerned,” the PHE Minister said.
