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DIMAPUR — Out of the 1,960 government schools in Nagaland, there are 3470 toilets including 1743 for boys and 1,727 for girls. This was informed by the Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Thursday.
He also informed that out of the total 2,391 schools (both government and private), 2,029 schools (84.86%) have tap water supply. He stated that 666 school toilets were constructed or reconstructed in the state under Swachh Bharat: Swachh Vidyalaya initiative (SVI).
Among the Northeastern states, Mizoram has the highest number of tap water supply in schools with 99.54 %. According to data, of the total 2,390 schools, 2,379 schools in Mizoram have tap water supply.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya has the lowest number of schools with tap water supply with only 64.34%. Out of 13,821 schools in the state, only 8,893 schools have tap water supply.
Among the other NE states, Manipur has 94.99% of tap water supply in schools, Assam with 93.58%, Tripura with 92.93%, Arunachal Pradesh with 92.11%, Sikkim with 86.54%, and Nagaland with 84.86%.
Chandrasekhar stated that the Government of India in partnership with states is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household in all the villages across the country. He added that a special campaign was launched under JJM to make provision of tap water supply in schools including schools for girls, Anganwadi centres and Ashramshalas (tribal residential schools) for drinking and cooking of mid-day meals, hand washing and piped water supply in toilets on priority.
So far, provision of potable tap water supply is available in more than 9.23 lakh (90.55%) schools in the country, he informed. According to him, under SVI, 4.17 lakh toilets (2.26 lakh for boys and 1.91 lakh for girls) were constructed or made functional in 2.61 lakh elementary and secondary government schools.
He mentioned that the Government of India launched the JJM to be implemented in partnership with states in August 2019. Informing that drinking water is a state subject, he stated that the responsibility of planning, approval, implementation, operation and maintenance of drinking water supply schemes including those under the Jal Jeevan Mission lies with State/UT governments. He stated that the Government of India supports the states by providing technical and financial assistance.
Chandrasekhar, in his reply, stated that significant progress has been made in the country since the launch of JJM, where at the start of JJM in August 2019, only 3.23 crore rural households were reported to have tap water connections. He added that as on December 19, 2023, around 13.24 crore rural households in the country out of 19.24 crore households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM.