New Delhi : A team of 6 members from National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) is visiting the State of Karnataka during 27 — 30th October, 2021 in three districts- Bengaluru, Tumkur and Kolar. The visiting team is visiting 3-5 villages daily to see the implementation on ground and sensitise local officers for speedy implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission to ensure ‘Har Ghar Jal’ by 2024.
During the visit, the team will interact with district officials, local village community, members of Gram Panchayat and PaniSamiti. Thereafter, the team will debrief and share their observations with the district officials as well as senior officers of the State Government. Various aspects of programme implementation and progress made under the mission by the State will be discussed to understand the State’s preparedness to meet the saturation deadline for ensuring 100% tap water supply to all rural households.
In Karnataka, out of a total of 97.92 lakh rural households, 39.04 lakh (39.87%) households have been provided with tap water connections. On 15th August 2019, at the time of launch of Jal Jeevan Mission, 24.51 lakh (25.03%) households had tap water supply. In 26 months, 14.53 lakh (14.84%) households in the State have been provided tap water connections. In 2021-22, the State has planned to provide tap water connections to 25.17 lakh households.
To translate the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household, Central government has increased the grant-in-aid in 2021-22 to Karnataka under the Jal Jeevan Mission to Rs. Rs. 5,008.80 Crore, which was Rs. 1,189.40 Crores in 2020-21. Union Minister, Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat while approving this four-fold increase in allocation assured full assistance to the State for making provision of tap water supply in every rural home by 2024. In 2021-22, Rs 1,426 Crore have been allocadto Karnataka as 15th FC tied grant for water & sanitation to Rural Local Bodies/ PRIs and there is an assured funding of Rs 7,524 Crore for the next five years i.e. up to 2025-26 to the rural local bodies. This huge investment in rural areas of Karnataka, will accelerate economic activities and also boost rural economy. It will create income generation opportunities in villages
Efforts are made to ensure tap water availability for drinking, cooking mid-day meal, washing hands and usage in toilets in all schools and AWCs. As on date, all 42,015 schools (100%), 53,699 anganwadi centres (100%) in Karnataka have been provided with tap water supply.
Jal Jeevan Mission is implemented in a decentralized manner following the ‘bottom up’ approach, wherein the local village community plays a key role starting from planning to implementation, management to operation and maintenance. To achieve this, the State to undertake activities like strengthening the Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ PaniSamiti, developing of Village Action Plan for each village for the next five years, engaging Implementing State Agencies (ISAs) to handhold and support village communities, carry out massive awareness among people. The State has planned to build the capacity of 25,527 stakeholders which includes Govt officials, ISAs, engineers, VWSC & panchayat members and skill training program provided so far for 2,745 skilled & semi-skilled work forces, which includes masons, plumbers, fitters, pump operators, etc.
With focus on public health, more than 2,000 water quality testing laboratories in the country have been opened to general public for testing their water samples at a nominal cost. Karnataka has 80 water quality testing labs, out of which 11 are NABL accredited.
Jal Jeevan Mission announced by the Prime Minister on 15th August 2019, is under implementation in partnership with States to provide tap water connection to every rural household of the country by 2024. In 2021-22, budget for Jal Jeevan Mission is Rs 50,011 Crore. With State’s matching share and Rs 26,940 Crore as 15th Finance Commission tied grant for water and sanitation to RLBs/ PRIs, this year, more than Rs. 1 lakh Crore are being invested in rural drinking water supply sector. Such huge investment in rural areas of the country, will certainly accelerate economic activities.
At the start of the mission in 2019, out of a total of 19.20 Crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 Crore (17%) had tap water supply. During the last 26 months, despite Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns disruptions, Jal Jeevan Mission has been implemented with speed and 5.17 Crore rural households have been provided with tap water connections. Presently, 8.40 Crore (43.72%) rural households across the country have tap water supply. States of Goa, Telangana, Haryana and UTs of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry, Daman & Diu have ensured 100% household tap connections in rural areas. Following the principle of Prime Minister’s vision of ‘SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas, SabkaVishwas’, the motto of the mission is that ‘no one is left out’ and every rural household to be provided with tap water connection. At present, every household in 81 districts and more than 1.20 lakh villages has started getting tap water supply.
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