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Dimapur, June 19 (EMN): With a vision of providing clean tap water, the central government allocated INR 5,601.16 crore grant to Assam under the Jal Jeevan Mission, which was INR 1,608.51 crore in 2020-21.
According to a PIB report, the national Jal Jeevan Mission under the ministry of Jal Shakti has also released INR 700 crore to the state as first tranche.
The Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, while approving this four-fold increase in allocation has assured full assistance to the state for making provision of tap water supply in every rural home by 2024, it stated.
In Assam, at the time of launch of Jal Jeevan Mission on Aug. 15, 2019, only 1.11 lakh (1.76%) households out of 63.35 lakh households in 25,335 villages had tap water supply. However, in the last 22 months, 7.99 lakh households (12.63%) had tap water supply, the report stated.
In the next three years, the state must provide tap water to the remaining 55.35 lakh households. To accomplish this, the state plans to connect 22.63 lakh families to tap water in 2021-22, 20.84 lakh households in 2022-23, and 13.20 lakh households in 2023-24.
Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has written a letter to the chief minister of Assam, highlighting challenges and important aspects related to planning and implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in Assam. In his letter, the union minister has expressed hope that the state government will make all out efforts to draw and utilise this enhanced allocation to achieve various planned activities under Jal Jeevan Mission to provide tap water connection to every household in rural areas.
The allocation of the central grant to Assam under JJM has been enhanced to INR 5,601.16 crore. With this fourfold increase in central allocation, the state has unspent balance of INR 123.78 crore and state’s matching share of INR 636.10 crore, amounting to INR 6,361.04 crore under Jal Jeevan Mission for water supply work in 2021-22, it stated.
In 2021-22, INR 712 crore has been allocated to Assam as 15th Finance Commission tied grant to Rural Local Bodies/ PRIs for water and sanitation. There is an assured funding of INR 3,752 crore for the next five years i.e. up to 2025-26. This huge investment in rural areas of Assam, will create new employment opportunities, accelerate economic activities, and also boost the rural economy, the report added. According to the report, Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma has assured the union minister of the speedy pace of implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in Assam and further assured that he will be closely monitoring the progress of the work to ensure tap water supply in rural households.