PIB News Update: To translate Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of providing clean tap water to every household, Union government has increased the Central grant to Tamil Nadu under the Jal Jeevan Mission in the year 2021-22 to Rs 3,691.21 Crore, which was Rs 921.99 Crore in 2020-21. National Jal Jeevan Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti has also released Rs. 614.35 Crores to the State as first tranche. Union Minister, Jal Shakti, Shri 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.
In Tamil Nadu, out of a total of 1.26 Crore households, 40.36lakh households (31.80%) have been provided with tap water connections. On 15th August 2019, at the time of launch of Jal Jeevan Mission, only 21.65 lakh (17.06%) households had tap water supply. In 22 months,18.70 lakh(14.74%) households in the State have been provided tap water connections.
Thus, in Tamil Nadu there are still 86.53 lakh households without tap water supply. With the present pace of 16.13 lakh households (in 2020-21), it is a huge task to be accomplished in next three years. To achieve this by 2024, the State needs to increase its pace of providing tap water supply to rural households by 179%.
The State Government is yet to finalize and present its Annual Action Plan (2021-22) to achieve the goal of ensuring tap water to every rural household. National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM), Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India has asked the State Government to finalize Annual Action Plan for the year 2021-22 without any further delay, and present the same as first quarter of the financial year is coming to an end.
Urging the State to accelerate the pace of implementation and emphasizing the work of providing tap connections should start in all the villages so that Tamil Nadu can provide tap water supply to every household by 2024, Union Minister, Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has written a letter to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
In 2020-21, Rs.921.99Crore Central grant was allocated to Tamil Nadu but the State could draw only Rs. 544.51 Crore, and surrendered Rs. 377.48 Crore meant for tap water supply in rural areas of the State. This year with four-fold increase in Central allocation (Rs 3,691.21 crore), unspent balance of Rs.377.48 Crore and short fall of Rs. 290.79 Crore in State matching share in 2020-21, and matching State’s share in this year, Tamil Nadu has an assured availability of Rs. 8,428.17 Crore under Jal Jeevan Mission for water supply work in 2021-22. Thus, there is no shortage of fund availability. In his letter to the Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu, the Union Minister has hoped that this enhanced allocation will enable the State to achieve various planned activities under Jal Jeevan Mission to provide tap water connection to every household in rural areas.
In 2021-22, Rs1,600 Crore has been allocated to Tamil Nadu as 15th FC tied grant for water & sanitation to Rural Local Bodies/ PRIs. There is an assured funding of Rs 8,436 Crore for the next five years i.e. up to 2025-26. This huge investment in rural areas of Tamil Nadu, will create new employment opportunities, accelerate economic activities and boost rural economy.
In his letter, Union Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawathas reiterated the emphasis given by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi to provide tap water on priority to all households in water-scarce areas, quality-affected villages, Aspirational districts, SC/ST majority villages and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) villages of Tamil Nadu. The State has been urged to cover all households in these villages/ areas in 2021-22 on priority.
To ensure safe tap water to children in schools, ashramshalas and anganwadicentres in the country, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced 100-days campaign, which was launched by the Union Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on 2ndOctober 2020. As a result, Tamil Nadualong with Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Goa, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar Islands have made provision of tap water in all schools andanganwadicentres.
Water quality monitoring & surveillance activities are to be given top priority, for which anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, members of Self-Help Groups, PRI members, school teachers etc.; are being trained so that they can test water samples for contamination at water sources and delivery points using Field Test Kits (FTKs). Out of a total of 113 water testinglaboratories, only 1 lab in Tamil Nadu is NABL accredited. The State needs to upgrade its water testing laboratories and securing their NABL accreditation.
Jal Jeevan Mission is a ‘bottom up’ approach where community plays a vital role starting from planning to implementation, management, operation and maintenance. To achieve this, State Government has to undertake support activities like strengthening the Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/Pani Samiti,developing of Village Action Plan co-terminus with 15th FC for the next five years, engaging Implementing State Agencies (ISAs) to handhold and support village communities, carry out awareness among people. So far Tamil Nadu has 10,812 VWSCs or PaniSamitis in 12,525 villages and 6,335 Village Action Plans have been prepared. State needs to prepare Village Action Plans for all villages within next 3-4 months. State also needs to train about 63 thousands women for water quality monitoring and surveillance. Such handholding and capacity building plays a critical role in ensuring long-term sustainability and operation & maintenance of the water supply infrastructure for assured water supply to every home.
At the start of the Mission in 2019, out of a total of 19.20 Crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 Crore (17%) had tap water supply. During the last 22 months, despite Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown disruptions, Jal Jeevan Mission, has been implemented with speed and 4.29 Crore households have been provided with piped connections. With the increase in coverage by 22%, presently 7.53 Crore (39.25%) rural households across the country have tap water supply. Goa, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry have achieved 100% household connection in rural areas and has become ‘Har Ghar Jal’. Following the principle of Prime Minister’s vision of ‘SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’, the motto of the Mission is that ‘no one is left out’ and every household in a village should be provided with tap water connection. At present, in 62 districts and more than 92 thousand villages, every household has tap water supply.
Jal Jeevan Mission announced by the Prime Minister on 15th August 2019 from Red Fort is under implementation in partnership with States/ UTs to provide tap water connection to every rural household of the country by 2024. Total budget for Jal Jeevan Mission in 2021-22 is Rs 50,011 Crore. With State’s own resources and Rs 26,940 Crore as 15th Finance Commission tied grant for water and sanitation to RLBs/ PRIs, this year, more than Rs 1 lakh Crore are being invested in rural drinking water supply sector. This is creating new employment opportunities in villages and boosting the rural economy.
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