The State Government is scrambling to step up the pace of work on the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a Centrally assisted rural household water connection scheme which has fallen woefully short of the annual target in the State - in the coming months with the Central Government exerting pressure on it.
The Centre had warned Kerala in early January of the need to expedite the work, noting that at the current pace the State would need to provide tap connections to more than 25,000 households every day if it hoped to meet the connection target for the 2021-22 fiscal, which ends on March 31.
The State Minister for Water Resources, Roshy Augustine, told The Hindu on Saturday that a series of measures have been put in motion to ensure that maximum household tap connections are provided over the next six months. The Kerala Water Authority (KWA), the main implementation agency for JJM in the State, has been directed to speed up work, Mr. Augustine said. Efforts are also on to bring hesitant grama panchayats on board and deploy staff from other agencies under the Water Resources Department for accelerating the pace.
In January, the Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, informed the State that a review had revealed that JJM-related work was yet to start in 338 Kerala villages. Although the State Government had planned to provide 29.38 lakh functional household tap connections (FHTC) in rural households in 2021-22, only 4.89 lakh of the targeted household have been covered, which amounts to 16.6%, Mr. Shekhawat said in a January 6 letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
''This year, so far, on an average, 1,835 households per day have been provided tap water connection. However, to meet the goal set in this year's annual action plan, henceforth 25,234 households need to be provided tap water connections per day,'' Mr. Shekhawat had noted.
(A more recent assessment by KWA revealed that 5.56 lakh connections have been given till January 20, 2022, which is still short of the intended 29.38 lakh connections this fiscal. The KWA has appointed 45 charge officers to oversee the implementation.)
In the January communique, the Jal Shakti Ministry also noted that although the Central grant to Kerala under JJM for 2021-22 was enhanced to ₹ 1,804.59 crore, the State had drawn only ₹ 902.30 crore (50%) and had reported utilisation to the tune of ₹ 535.59 crore. JJM expenses are shared 50:50 by the State and Centre. The Ministry wanted the State to accelerate the pace of work and fund utilisation and kick off work in the 338 villages immediately.
''Special teams have been formed now and monthly reviews are being held. Panchayats have been asked to give their consent to be part of the JJM. We expect the pace to pick up in the next few months,'' Mr. Augustine said.
JJM envisions full coverage of household tap connections in rural India by 2024-25. Only around 38% of the rural households in Kerala have been covered till January this year. The State formally launched JJM projects in April 2020, one year after the national-level roll-out. Only 4.04 lakh connections could be provided in 2020-21 against the steep target of 21.42 lakh. Adding the backlog, the target for 2021-22 was set at 29.38 lakh connections.
