New Delhi, Jul 15 (IANS): With 9.79 crore household tap water connections, the flagship Jal Jeevan Mission scheme -- to take tap water to every home -- of the Ministry of Jal Shakti has crossed the 50 per cent mark, it was announced on Friday.
Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat himself tweeted and announced the achievement of the Mission that was announced by the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort in his August 15 speech in 2019.
"The first sign of victory is when you cross the halfway mark. Our #JalJeevanMission under the leadership of PM @narendramodi ji has achieved this milestone today as 51% of rural households in India now have clean tap water flowing into their homes. #JJM_NaiKahani (sic)," tweeted Shekhawat.
There are a total of 19.20 crore (19,20,58,629) total households across India, of which only 3.23 crore (3,23,62,838) households had tap water as of August 15, 2019, as per the data from the Jal Jeevan Mission officials. "Now with the scheme fully functional in all the states - even with hurdles - we have now managed to take the taps to 9.79 crore (9,79,66,028) households," said an official.
Goa, Telangana, Haryana states and UTs of Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Daman, Diu & Dadra Nagar Haveli have achieved 100 per cent provisions of functional tap water connections.
Punjab, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar are the next in line with over 80 per cent target achieved, as per the official data while Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh are the bottom four states.
Rs 3.60 lakh crore has been allocated for five years. Of that, Rs 60,000 crore was allocated to 'Har Ghar Jal' - 100 per cent saturation - in Union Budget 2022-23 to provide tap water to 3.8 crore households.
In addition, in 2021-22, Rs 26,940 crore has been allocated to states as 15th Finance Commission tied grants for water & sanitation to Rural Local Bodies/ Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). There is an assured funding of Rs 1,42,084 crore for the next five years i.e. up to 2025-26.