India, Jan. 29 -- The Government of India has issued a release:
Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation undertakes assessment of the functionality of household tap water connections provided under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), through an independent third-party agency, based on standard statistical sampling. The Functionality Assessment 2024 was conducted across 19,812 Har Ghar Jal (HGJ) villages covering 2,37,608 households in 761 districts across 34 States/ UTs. It was found that tap connections were available in 98.1% of households in surveyed villages. Of these, 86.5% of households had working tap connections, 80.2% were getting water in adequate quantity, 83.6% were getting water regularly as per the schedule of water supply for their piped water supply scheme, and 76% of households were receiving water as per the prescribed water quality standards. The detailed National and State-wise report of Functionality Assessment 2024 is in public domain and can be accessed at https://jaljeevanmission.gov.in/functionality-report-2024
In August 2019, the Union Cabinet had approved the implementation of JJM from 2019-20 to 2023-24 with central outlay of Rs. 2,08, 652 crores. Against the allocated fund, almost entire fund has been utilized.
'Water' being a state subject, the responsibility of planning, approval, implementation, operation, and maintenance (O&M) of drinking water supply schemes/ works, including those under JJM, lies with State/UT Governments. The Government of India supports the states by providing technical and financial assistance. As such, corrective measures which inter-alia, include, rectification of infrastructure gaps, repair or replacement of faulty components, strengthening of source sustainability and improvement of O&M arrangements are undertaken by States/ UTs to restore functional tap water supply in HGJ villages.
As per operational guidelines of JJM, after making provision of tap connections to all rural households in a village, the Department implementing the scheme provides completion certificate to Gram Panchayat and marks the village as HGJ village on JJM-IMIS. Subsequently, Gram Sabha while reading out aloud the work completion report in its meeting, formally passes resolution certifying itself as HGJ village. The copy of certificate provided by implementing department, resolution passed by Gram Sabha, and a small video capturing the Gram Sabha is reflected on JJM Dashboard and village is marked certified in JJM- IMIS. As such, certification is carried out only at village level and only after providing tap connections to all households in the village. In case of non-compliance with the guidelines or misreporting, States/UTs have been advised to take corrective measures and all required disciplinary, contractual, and legal actions are to be taken without exception against officials, implementing agencies and TPIAs.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
