Centre Government Sanctioned Funds For Implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in Telangana & Odisha
Telangana-
- Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, in an official communiqué to the Chief Minister of Telangana, raised his concerns on the status of Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) to be provided in the rural areas of the State. Referring to his earlier meeting with the CM, the central minister stated that complete updation of the tap connection data in Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of the Ministry has not happened so far even after the instructions of the Chief Minister to do so.
- Jal Jeevan Mission, a flagship programme of the Government of India, is under implementation since 2019-20 with the objective to provide 55 litres of potable water per person per day to every rural household of the country on regular and long-term basis. JJM aims to improve the lives of rural people especially women and girls by reducing their drudgery. States are implementing this transformational mission so that the time-bound objective of providing household tap connection in rural areas could be accomplished by 2024.
- The minister, in his letter, stressed on the importance of updated data in IMIS as national level database is accessed by various stakeholders including UN agencies, NITI Aayog, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, think tanks, media, etc and is also used for reply as well as statement in the Parliament. UN agencies also use this data to monitor the progress of a State/ country in terms of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the State so far has remained non-responsive to numerous requests made by Ministry of Jal Shakti for real time data updation of tap connections provided in rural areas. So far, only partial updation has been done by the State in JJM-IMIS. In the absence of this, the status of household tap connections in Telangana is not known.
- Further, the Minister in his letter highlighted that during the meeting it was informed that the State is reaching 100% FHTC status, but the data reports of only 35.86 lakh households have been provided with tap connections out of 54.37 lakh total rural households in the State. This gap is worrisome and creates huge confusion.
- Emphasizing the role of local community, Minister urged the CM to involve local village community/ Gram Panchayats and or its sub-committee like Village Water & Sanitation Committee or user groups in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of water supply systems in villages to ensure long-term sustainability of water supply schemes to achieve drinking water security.
- The Central minister stated that in 2019-20 Telangana was allocated ₹ 259.14 Crore and only ₹ 105.52 Crore could be released by Government of India as State was unable to avail second instalment due to non-reporting of physical progress and non-submission of proper expenditure plan. The Minister also stated about the vision of the Union Government to provide all assistance to the state as potable water is the national priority. In this endeavour, Central Government has increased the fund allocation to Telangana from ₹ 259.14 Crore to ₹ 412.19 Crore for the year 2020-21. Thus, with an opening balance of ₹ 30.89 Crore along with this year’s allocation, Telangana has assured availability of ₹ 443.29 Crore under JJM as Central funds. It has also been mentioned that if the State intends to take up water supply schemes under JJM utilizing Central fund, an Annual Action Plan is to be prepared by the State, which will be approved by the National Committee headed by Secretary, DDWS. The State has not presented Annual Action Plan (2020-21) so far.
Odisha-
- Highlighting low utilisation of funds under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the Centre has asked the Odisha government to ensure its expeditious implementation and said the central scheme could also help generate employment and boost the local economy.
- The mission aims to improve the lives of rural people by providing safe drinking water to every rural household through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) by 2024.
- Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that Odisha should review the planning and implementation strategy of water supply schemes.
- The Jal Shakti Ministry in a statement said that the Union minister”s letter to expedite water supply through tap connections is well-timed, considering the prevailing situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- It said it is important that people do not crowd public stand-posts or public water sources. This is a time to instill behavioural changes in the masses to help them practice social distancing as well as expedite water supply works, the statement said.
- The mission will also help locals and migrants in getting employment, and will boost the rural economy, it said
- On the pace of implementation of the scheme, Shekhawat in his letter mentioned that in 2019-2020, against a target of 15.61 lakh households, only 4.37 lakh (or 27.97 per cent) households were provided with tap connections in the state. This resulted in low utilisation of funds, the Union minister said.
- Odisha was allocated Rs 364.74 crore in 2019-20, of which the state could only utilise Rs 275.02 crore, according to the letter.
- For this mission, funds are provided to states based on output in terms of FHTCs provided and “utilisation of available Central and matching state share”, it said.
- In his letter, Shekhawat tressed on how providing potable water to every household is a national priority.
- He also said that to take the mission forward in a seamless way, the fund allocation to Odisha has been increased from Rs 364.74 crore to Rs 812.15 crore in 2020-21, sources in the ministry said.
- Along with the unspent balance of Rs 90 crore, this year”s central allocation of Rs 812 crore and with the matching state share, Odisha will have Rs 1,805 crore for implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission in 2020-21.
- The Union minister hoped that the state will provide matching share along with the central fund on a timely basis to the implementing department for this programme, which will help to achieve the target of 100 per cent tap connection in rural areas.
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Shekhawat said there should be robust planning for time bound delivery, with focus on retrofitting and augmentation of existing water supply systems in 21,516 villages so that the poor and marginalised people in these villages get tap connections immediately.
About JJM-
About Jal Jeevan Mission–
The Central Government assistance to States for rural water supply began in 1972 with the launch of Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme. It was renamed as National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) in 2009, which is a centrally sponsored scheme with fund sharing between the Centre and the States. Under NRDWP, one of the objectives was to “enable all households to have access to and use safe & adequate drinking water within premises to the extent possible”. It was proposed to achieve the goal by 2030, coinciding with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. But now, it is has been planned to achieve the goal by 2024 through Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). As per the information available with DDWS, as on 31.3.2019, only 18.33% of rural households i.e.,3.27 Crore out of the total 17.87 Crore rural households in the country, have piped water connection.
Government of India has restructured and subsumed the ongoing National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) into Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household i.e., Har Ghar Nal Se Jal (HGNSJ) by 2024.
The goal of JJM is to provide functional household tap connection to every household with service level at the rate of 55 litres per capita per day (lpcd).
जीके और दैनिक करेंट अफेयर्स अपडेट हिंदी में प्राप्त करें – क्लिक करें
