Six states from the North and North Eastern regions of India, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura and Himachal Pradesh have qualified for performance incentive grant for 2021-22 under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal to provide assured tap water supply to every rural home by 2024. Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat approved Rs 1,982 Crore as performance incentive to these states, wherein Arunachal Pradesh has received Rs 542 Crore, Manipur received Rs 120 Crore, Meghalaya received Rs 400 Crore, Sikkim received Rs 70 Crore, Tripura received Rs 100 Crore and Himachal Pradesh has received Rs 750 Crore. The budget for Jal Jeevan Mission for 2022 -23 has been enhanced to Rs 60,000 Crore.
The mission aims to provide household tap water connection to every rural home by 2024. The provision of performance incentive fund under Jal Jeevan Mission has generated a healthy competition among states and Union Territories, which will help in speedy implementation and assured water supply under this mission. The National Jal Jeevan Mission sent a number of multi-disciplinary team of experts to help these states to plan better and implement with speed.
North Eastern states, despite hilly terrain and forested areas, have implemented JJM with speed and scale. Five NE states, mentioned above have qualified for performance incentive grant. Union Minister Shekhawat had a number of review meetings as well as visits to NE states to expedite the implementation.
The Union Ministry informed that despite COVID-19 pandemic, resultant lockdowns and disruption in the last two years, implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission is going on smoothly and during the financial year, more than 2.05 Crore rural households have been provided tap water connection. Presently, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Goa, Haryana, Puducherry and Telangana have become ‘Har Ghar Jal States/UT and every household in 106 districts and 1.44 lakh villages of the country, have tap water supply.
Since announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission on August 15, 2019, so far, more than 6.10 Crore households have been provided with tap water connections, thus increasing the tap water supply from 3.23 Crore (17 per cent) to more than 9.34 Crore (48.3 per cent) rural households in the country.
