SHILLONG, April 6: The PHE department has resolved most of the issues of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) implementation and all the backlog that was created will be cleared in no time, PHE Minister Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar claimed on Tuesday.
Stating that the implementation of the JJM project is improving in the state, the minister said, “The mission is improving as we have solved most of the problem”. “Earlier due to non-availability of pipes there was a problem but now we have solved it and now pipes have started coming in to every division. Hopefully by end of June, we may recover the backlog of all these months,” he added.
He informed that work has started in many locations, and for those that are facing a debacle, the engineers have started issuing letters to the contractors requesting them to resume the work.
Informing that they are getting good response from the contractor as after they have decided to give them the revised estimates, the PHE minister said, “Earlier, the state government could not sanction the revised estimate, that’s why the contractor did not agree to do the work. But as soon as we got the revised estimate of 65 crores, the extra amount, the contractors have resumed the work. And although some haven’t started the procedure, I have asked the engineers to issue letters to the contractors to resume work”.
Referring to the agreement signed with the Hima Mawphlang, in which it was agreed to provide free water to the people of Mawphlang, the PHE minister said that as per JJM, five per cent contribution should be made by the beneficiaries, besides maintenance cost, adding that the department has decided to give the people of Mawphlang exemption from the 5 per cent.
It may be mentioned that seven states, including Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, have recently qualified for the 2020-21 performance incentive grant under Union Ministry of jal Shakti’s Jal Jeevan Mission.
Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat had approved Rs 465 crore as a performance incentive to these states.
The JJM aims to provide all rural households with tap water connections by 2024 to improve quality of life and enhance ‘ease of living’ of the country’s people.
