73.93% rural households have tap water supply in homes under Jal Jeewan Mission, says minister

New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) Out of 19.27 crore rural households in the country, more than 14.24 crore (73.93 per cent) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) as on February 4.

The remaining 5.03 crore households are likely to be covered within the mission period, the Lok Sabha was told on Thursday.

Responding to a question, Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said a significant progress has been made in the country since the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission towards enhancing access to tap water to rural households.

At the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission in August 2019, only 3.23 crore (17 per cent) rural households were reported to have tap water connections.

So far, as reported by states and UTs, additional 11.01 crore rural households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM.

"Thus, as on February 4, out of 19.27 crore rural households in the country, more than 14.24 crore (73.93 per cent) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes and the remaining 5.03 crore are likely to be covered within the mission period," Shekhawat said.

Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Dadra, Nagar Haveli; Daman and Diu, and Puducherry had become 'Har Ghar Jal' states and UTs - that is 100 per cent rural households are having tap water supply, he said.

The government of India is committed to making provisions for safe and potable tap water supply in adequate quantity of prescribed quality and on a regular and long-term basis to all rural households in the country, he said.

Towards this end, the Union government launched the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), to be implemented in partnership with states. Drinking water is a state subject, and hence, the responsibility of planning, approval, implementation, operation and maintenance of drinking water supply schemes, including those under the Jal Jeevan Mission, lie with state and UT governments, Shekhawat said.

The government of India supports the states by providing technical and financial assistance, he stated.

A number of steps have been taken to plan and implement JJM in the entire country with speed, inter alia, which includes joint discussion and finalisation of saturation plan and annual action plan of states and UTs, regular review of implementation, workshops and conferences for capacity building and training, and field visits by multi-disciplinary team to provide technical support among others.

As informed by department of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, water being a state subject, the regulation and management of ground water is primarily the responsibility of state governments, the minister underlined.

However, under this ministry, the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) has been constituted under section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for the purpose of regulation and control of ground water development and management in the country.

Abstraction-cum-use of groundwater in the country is regulated by CGWA in 19 states and UTs by way of issuing NOCs as per the provisions of its notified guidelines dated September 24, 2020 and amendments thereto which have pan India applicability.

Further,17 states and UTs have put in place their own regulatory mechanism for regulating ground water abstraction-cum-usage in their respective jurisdiction.

Moreover, to achieve the target of improvement in water use efficiency (WUE) by 20 per cent, a dedicated organisation has been set up as Bureau of Water use Efficiency (BWUE) under National Water Mission during October, 2022 to work on mission mode.

The bureau acts as a facilitator for promotion of improving water use efficiency across various sectors namely irrigation, drinking water supply, power generation, industries and the likes in the country. No such report has been published so far by the bureau, the minister stated. PTI PLB KSS KSS