The Centre has encouraged Kerala to step up the pace of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the national-level programme which promises tap water supply to rural households, so that annual targets are met on time and 100% coverage is achieved as per schedule, Vikas Sheel, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, and Mission Director, JJM, has said.
Kerala is one of seven States - and the only one in the south - where the reported coverage is still below the half-way mark as per the data with the Ministry. Under JJM, Kerala has added 13.12 lakh functional household tap connections (FHTC), taking the total coverage to 29.76 lakh rural households. This constitutes 42.11% of the 70.68 lakh households targeted by 2024, the national-level deadline.
Since the August 2019 national-level launch, Goa; Telangana; Haryana; Puducherry; the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have reported 100% coverage on the JJM portal. Punjab, Gujarat, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh crossed the 90% mark in implementation, Mr. Sheel told The Hindu over phone from New Delhi.
