Jal Shakti Minister approves Rs 465 crore as Performance Incentive fund for seven states under Jal Jeevan Mission

Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat has approved Rs 465 crore as Performance Incentive fund for seven states under Jal Jeevan Mission. These states are Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

Ministry of Jal Shakti in a release said, "Seven States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh qualified for performance incentive grant for 2020-21 under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal to provide assured tap water supply to every rural home by 2024."

For the performance incentive grant, the criteria include physical and financial progress under Jal Jeevan Mission, the functionality of piped water supply schemes and the capacity to utilize the fund.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns and disruption, speedy implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission on the ground has set an example and during the financial year, more than 3.16 Crore rural households have been provided tap water connection. Presently, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Goa and Telangana States have become 'Har Ghar Jal' States/ UT and every household in 55 districts and 85 thousand villages of the country, have a tap water supply.

Jal Jeevan Mission

Jal Jeevan Mission was announced on August 15, 2019, and since the announcement, around four 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 7.20 Crore (37.6 per cent) rural households in the country. This is the 'speed and scale' of the works being undertaken for making provision of clean drinking water to every rural household in rural areas.

The provision of a performance incentive fund under Jal Jeevan Mission has generated healthy competition among States/ UTs, which will help in speedy implementation and assured water supply under this life-changing mission. The mission aims to provide household tap water connection to every rural home by 2024 to improve the quality of life and enhance 'ease of living' of people of the country,

Under the mission, the focus has shifted to the assured supply of potable water to every home rather than mere infrastructure creation. Massive training and skilling programme is being taken up to build the capacity of public health engineers and the local community to ensure regular water supply to every rural home. The mission envisages that the Public Health Engineering Department and Gram Panchayats/ Village Water & Sanitation committee play the role of a public utility.

In the financial Year 2020-21, Rs 11,000 Crore was allocated for Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and the grant has been provided to States/ UTs based on the output in terms of functional household tap connections given and the utilization of available Central grant and matching State share.