With water quality a key concern, the government is now all set to launch a country-wide ground survey to check the implementation of Har Ghar Jal scheme in all states, and the quality of water being provided through the newly installed tap connections across villages.
The three-month-long mega exercise is likely to be launched on October 2 and will monitor not just the quality of water being delivered but the frequency of availability as well as the service delivery under the scheme, including promptness of repairs.
According to sources, a standard questionnaire has already been prepared which citizens in villages would be asked to fill to rate the water quality and Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) infrastructure in their village. The data collection exercise will be conducted by water works department officials of each state. The questionnaire will also be put up online for citizens to submit their assessment of the work done and share feedback. This data collected at the village and district level would then be sent to the Centre, which also plans to finalise the two best districts in each state with respect to JJM implementation. The best districts will be awarded at the national level, as will be the best states with respect to JJM implementation.
GRADING SYSTEM FOR VILLAGES
With this, the ministry also plans to put into place a grading system for all villages covered by the Har Ghar Jal scheme under which the government has committed to provide potable tap water connection to every rural household by 2024. The grading system will be made public so citizens can know how their village and state is doing on JJM implementation and people can work to improve their standing in the rankings.
The ministry plans to make this ground survey an annual exercise. The quality of water is a key concern in several states, with consumption of impure drinking water leading to diseases like encephalitis. It is also a major focus areas under the Jal Jeevan Mission for improvement of water quality affected due to arsenic, fluoride, salinity, nitrate, iron etc. As many as 2,070 water testing laboratories are currently empaneled for the project, which are now open for the public for testing water samples at nominal rates. Women in villages are also being trained to use the Field Testing Kits to check the quality of water at the local level.
Over 10 crore rural households across states have been provided with drinking water through tap connections, up from just 3.23 crore households which had access to piped water connection when the scheme was first announced by the government in 2019.
PROGRESS STILL SLOW IN UP, JHARKHAND
With the country racing to achieve the target of providing all rural households with tap water connections by 2024, the progress is yet to pick up across 13 states which still account for 95 per cent of the pending work under the Har Ghar Jal scheme. The government had given a deadline of September 30 to do all the planning, and award all the contracts by the end of the year.
“If the states meet this deadline, then the target can still be achieved. The only places where there are still some concerns are very small pockets which are seriously water-stressed and there is no source of water, for instance Rajasthan and MP. We are pushing these states to look more closely at these regions and look for alternate ways,” said a senior official.
Uttar Pradesh has set a target of March 2023 to ensure safe drinking water reaches at least one crore rural households in the state from the current 46.72 lakh households. In a recent meeting held through video conferencing, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath suggested certain districts to consider using Chambal river water instead of Lower Ganga canal water for supplying drinking water in Aligarh and Agra division, after adequate feasibility tests.
Monthly targets are now being given to all the districts, with district magistrates directed to ensure that this target is completed on time and system of on-site inspections is strengthened. Villages that are 100 per cent saturated with Jal Jeevan Mission would need to be verified with transparency, he said.
Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment