Assam gets 5,601 crore from the Center under Jal Jeevan Mission
The Center has allocated Rs 5,601 crore to Assam under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) for 2021-22. The Ministry of Jal Shakti gave this information. In 2020-21, the central government had allocated Rs 1,608.51 crore to the state under the Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to provide tap water connections to all rural households by 2024.
Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has assured full assistance to Assam to make provision for supply of tap water to every rural household by 2024.
The first installment of Rs 700 crore was also released to Assam.
According to the Ministry of Jalshakti, at the start of the mission in 2019, only 3.23 crore (17 per cent) of the total 19.20 crore rural households in the country had tap water.
During the last 22 months, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown disruptions, JJM has been implemented expeditiously and piped connections have been provided to 4.32 crore households, the ministry said.
With a 22 per cent increase in coverage, 7.56 crore (39.38 per cent) rural households across the country currently have tap water supply. Goa, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry have achieved 100 per cent household connections in rural areas and each household has become water,
On August 15, 2019, at the time of the launch of JJM, only 1.11 lakh (1.76 per cent) households out of a total of 63.35 lakh households in 25,335 villages in Assam had tap water supply.
In the last 22 months, 6.88 lakh households (10.87 per cent) in Assam have been provided with tap water connections, thus 7.99 lakh households (12.63 per cent) have tap water available.
The state has to provide tap water to the remaining 55.35 lakh households in the next three years.
To achieve this task, the state plans to provide 22.63 lakh households in 2021-22, 20.84 lakh houses in 2022-23 and 13.20 lakh tap water connections in 2023-24.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has assured the Union Minister to expedite the implementation of JJM in the state.
