CURTAIN RAISER]
The Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will be chairing a Regional Conference with 8 States and 3 UTs at Jaipur on 8th April, 2022 to review the progress achieved and way forward under Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen. 8 States and 3 UTs are participating in the Regional Conference i.e. Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Daman & Diu and Dadar & Nagar Haveli. The meeting will be attended in person by 10 Ministers from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra and Punjab along with senior officers from rural water supply and sanitation department.
Through the conference, National Jal Jeevan Mission aims to share the learnings drawn, understand the challenges faced and find possible solutions to overcome various challenges. The progress made by each State/ UT under both the flagship programmes will be discussed to fast-track various planned activities as well as to draw the way forward. Secretary, Department of Drinking water & Sanitation, Additional Secretary & Mission Director (JJM/ SBM- Grameen) will interact with senior officers from the participating States.
The deliberations on Jal Jeevan Mission will cover aspects related to quality of work, pace of implementation, software activities such as training, skilling, capacity building programmes, water quality monitoring and surveillance, use of technology, etc. While the forenoon sessions will be on discussion with States about the review of the mission works as well as the issues being faced on the ground, the second half will be for technical discussions by subject matter experts on important aspects of quality of works, grey water management, source sustainability measures, etc.
Following Prime Minister’s vision of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas aur Sabka Prayas”, 107 districts, 70 thousand Gram Panchayats and 1.46 lakh villages have become ‘Har Ghar Jal’ in the country. Three States – Goa, Telangana and Haryana and three UTs – A&N Islands, D&N Haveli & Daman & Diu and Puducherry have provided 100% tap water coverage. As reported by States/ UTs, in the last two and half years, 6.15 Crore rural households have been given tap water connection and as on 06.04.2022 about 9.39 Crore (48.61%) households are having tap water connections. So far, more than 8.55 lakh (83%) schools and 8.82 lakh (79%) anganwadi centres are getting potable piped water supply.