NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, AUG 15
Union Jal Shakti Minster Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani jointly reviewed the planning and implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JMM) in the state through video conference on Friday, a statement said.
.@gssjodhpur and CM Gujarat, @vijayrupanibjp held a joint review meeting through VC today on the progress of implementation of #JalJeevanMission in the State.#Gujarat plans 100% FHTC coverage of households by 2022.@PMOIndia @OfficeOfGSS @paramiyer_ https://t.co/uSvosDjSWF
— Jal Jeevan Mission I #HarGharJal (@jaljeevan_) August 14, 2020
Gujarat is planning to provide tap connection to every rural household of the state by 2022, instead of 2024 as envisaged under the mission, it added.
The statement said Gujarat implemented decentralised, demand-driven, and community-managed drinking water supply programme which kick-started in 2002 through the Water and Sanitation Management Organization (WASMO).
Sujalam Sufalam Jal Sanchay Yojana – an outstanding water conservation drive with people’s participation that has immensely enhanced storage capacity of water bodies and helped Gujarat leave behind the olden days of drought and water scarcity. pic.twitter.com/2sEYBfyuX0
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) August 13, 2020
These efforts led to the provision of safe drinking water through tap connections to more than 70 percent of households in the state.
By promoting the Gram Panchayat and Paani Samiti to take the lead in planning, managing, implementing, operating, and maintaining water supply schemes in villages, WASMO became a successful decentralised model of service delivery, it added.
Out of 93.03 lakh rural households in Gujarat, 68.63 lakh have tap connections. The plan is to provide tap connections in 11.15 lakh households from 2020-21.
In 2020-21, ₹883.08 crore has been allocated, including the State share there is assured availability of ₹1,777.56 crore. Gujarat has been allocated ₹ 3,195 crore under 15th Finance Commission Grants to PRIs and 50% of it is to be used mandatorily for water supply and sanitation
Out of 18,191 villages in the state, 17,899 villages have existing piped water supply systems. The Gujarat chief minister also mentioned that another 6,000 villages will be 100 percent compliant with tap connections by December 2020.
Further, five districts of the state will be fully compliant with household tap connections by this year-end, the statement added.
The state is planning to cover 12 districts with 100 percent household tap connections in this financial year.
It was also mentioned that surface-based water systems have been taken up to provide safe drinking water to remaining villages of the state which will be completed in the next two years.
Rupani assured the Union minister that Finance Commission grants will be dovetailed for works to be taken up for water supply and sanitation in villages.
He also stated that Gujarat is planning to implement IoT based sensor monitoring system for which the pilot is already underway in 1,000 villages of two districts of the state so as to monitor the functionality of water supply i.e. potable water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality being provided to every rural household on a regular and long-term basis.
Once the pilot project is successful, it will be adopted for the whole state for online monitoring of the status of water supply in villages.
Praising the initiatives of the Gujarat government for overall water management, Shekhawat said it has set an example for the whole country as to how a drought-prone state has been able to successfully manage the water resources to meet the needs of different sectors.
