11,810 Punjab villages get tap water supply in each household
Nitin Jain
Ludhiana, April 14
As many as 11,810 of the total 12,009 villages have been provided tap water supply to their each and every household in the state, the government has confirmed.
With this, Punjab has ranked second in the northern region by achieving the maximum of 98.34 per cent coverage under the Har Ghar Jal (HGJ) yojana, spearheaded through the Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), official figures have revealed.
The Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, Vini Mahajan, told The Tribune, that Rs 3.6 lakh crore had been allocated to provide tap water supply to each and every rural household so far with a sum of Rs 60,000 crore more allocated to ‘Har Ghar Jal’ Yojana in the Union Budget for the current fiscal 2022-23 to ensure tap water supply to 3.8 crore more households.
OfficialSpeak
The Jal Jeevan Mission focuses on water service delivery and not just building water supply infrastructure. With the motto of ‘no one is left out’, it ensures every household, irrespective of its socio-economic status, gets tap water supply. It strives for the freedom of women from fetching water for household, and improving their health, education and socio- economic conditions. —Vini Mahajan, Secy, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Union Ministry of Jal Shakti
She said Rs 26,940 crore was allocated to the states as 15th Finance Commission tied grants for water and sanitation to the rural local bodies/ panchayati raj institutions in 2021-22. “Besides, an assured funding of Rs 1,42,084 crore has been earmarked for the next five years up to 2025-26. This huge investment in rural areas across the country will accelerate economic activities and boost rural economy, besides creating employment opportunities in villages,” Mahajan said.
The state-wise coverage in the northern region indicated that Haryana, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu topped the northern region with 100 per cent coverage by providing tap water supply to each and every household in all their 6,803, 378 and 96 villages, respectively.
Among other states, Gujarat ranked third with 84.86 per cent coverage (15,437 of total 18,191 villages), Himachal Pradesh fourth with 80.36 per cent coverage (14,585 of total 18,150 villages), Maharashtra stood fifth with 29.18 per cent coverage (11,816 of total 40,495 villages), Uttarakhand sixth with 20.1 per cent coverage (3,068 of total 15,264 villages), Jammu and Kashmir seventh with 16.15 per cent coverage (1,112 of total 6,887 villages), Ladakh eighth 8.4 per cent coverage (21 of total 250 villages), and Rajasthan remained laggard with the minimum of 2.43 per cent coverage by providing tap water supply to each and every household in 984 of its total 43,364 villages.
