Only three States, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya, have used all their allotted funds for creating water supply facilities in villages, under the Centre’s marquee Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). Moreover, States such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu had utilised less than 25 % of the Central allocation, according to a report tabled by the Standing Committee on Water, chaired by Sanjay Jaiswal, BJP MP from Bihar.
The JJM aims to provide a Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to all rural household under a ‘no one is left out’ motto. In 2019, out of about 18.93 crore households in rural areas, only about 3.23 crore (17%) had tap water connections. The Centre aims to provide the remaining 83% rural households with tap water supply by 2024.
The stated purpose of the mission is to provide long-term drinking water security in villages to avoid making emergency arrangements such as deploying ‘tankers’ or ‘trains’, etc., in rural areas.
