Bhubaneswar (SunstarTV Bureau): The Central has allocated an amount of Rs 3,323 Crore to Odisha under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) has been increased by four times in the financial year 2021-22. The initiatives help in providation of safe drinking tap water to every rural household by March 2024.
“Centre allocates Rs 3,323 crore grant to #Odisha under #JalJeevanMission. With four-fold increase in allocation, Centre supports Odisha to become ‘Har Ghar Jal’ State by March, 2024,” PIB, Odisha said, in a tweet on Sunday.
Notably, Odisha has received Rs 812 Crore in the previous year 2020-21, said an official.
While approving the allocation to the state, Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat assured full assistance to the state for making provision of tap water supply in every rural home by March 2024.
With unspent balance of Rs 10.93 crore and matching the state’s share of Rs 3,253 crore, in total, Rs 6,596 crore is available for water supply work in the state in 2021-22.
Since launching of the JJM on August 15, 2019 across India, there has been significant improvement in ensuring tap water connection to the rural households.
In Odisha, only 3.10 lakh households of total 85.66 lakh rural households had tap water connections, accounting to 3.63%. In the past three years, over 22.84 lakh households in the state have been provided with tap water connections under JJM while total 30.3% rural households with tab water connection.
While the panchayati raj and drinking water department has been the implementing agency for JJM in the state, it has targeted to provide tap water connections to 21.31 lakh rural households during the current financial year. Similarly, additional 22.53 lakh tap water connections are planned in the year 2022-23 and another 18.87 lakh tap water connections in 2023-24.
According to official sources, the Union Jal Shakti minister in a letter to chief minister Naveen Patnaik, has urged to start the work to provide tap water connections should start in all the villages so that the state can achieve the target of covering all rural households by March 2024.
The Centre has urged the state government to accord priority to water-scarce areas, quality-affected villages, Aspirational districts, SC/ST majority villages and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) villages.
It has also advised to upgrade the water testing laboratories and securing NABL accreditation. Out of a total of 77 laboratories, only 6 labs are NABL accredited in Odisha.
The state government has been further urged to undertake support activities like strengthening the Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Pani Samiti, developing of Village Action Plan for next five years, engaging Implementing State Agencies (ISAs) to handhold and support village communities, and carry out awareness among people. So far in 47,412 villages of the state, only 1,184 villages have VWSCs or Pani Samitis.
