Jal Jeevan Mission has reached a new milestone in providing over four crore rural households with a clean tap water supply, the Jal Shakti Ministry said on Monday.
With this now, more than one-third of all rural households or about 7.24 crore rural households, are getting potable water through taps.
Goa has become the first state to provide 100 per cent tap water supply, followed by Telangana and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the statement added.
“The untiring efforts of States/ UTs have helped Jal Jeevan Mission provide assured tap water supply to every family living in 56 districts and over 86 thousand villages. States/ UTs are now competing with each other and focusing on the target to ensure that every household in the country gets safe drinking water so that 'no one is left out,” the Ministry stated.
Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to provide tap water supply to every rural home by 2024, is being implemented in partnership with the States to provide potable water in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis. The scheme was kickstarted in 2019
“Extensive planning exercise has been undertaken by the States following ‘bottom-up approach and they have firmed up the Action Plan to provide tap water connection to every rural household. While implementing, States are giving priority to water quality-affected areas, villages in drought-prone and desert areas, Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe majority villages, aspirational districts and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna villages,” the Ministry explained.
A campaign has also been launched to provide tap water supply in schools and ashram shalas, and anganwadi centres across the country so that whenever the schools reopen, children are provided with safe water for drinking.