New Delhi, Jun 1 (UNI) To provide every household with assured tap water supply on regular and long-term basis, Central Government allocated Rs 6,998.97 crore grant to West Bengal under Jal Jeevan Mission for the year 2021-22, the Ministry of Jal Shakti said here on Tuesday.
The Central allocation for the year 2019-20 was Rs 995.33 crore, which was increased to Rs 1,614.18 crore in 2020-21.
Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat while approving the enhanced allocation, also assured full assistance to the state for provision of tap water supply to every rural home by 2024, the statement said.
Jal Jeevan Mission is the flagship programme of Government of India, which aims to provide household tap water connection to every rural household by 2024.
On August 15, 2019 when Jal Jeevan Mission was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide tap water supply to every rural home by 2024 to improve the lives of people especially women and girls, out of total 19.20 crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 crore (17 per cent) had tap water connection.
During last 21 months, despite disruptions due to Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, Jal Jeevan Mission has been implemented with speed and on a scale so that every household has provision of assured tap water supply by 2024.
In this period, in the whole country, about 4.25 crore households have been provided tap water connections, thus increasing coverage by 22 per cent to presently 7.50 crore that is 39 per cent of the total rural households in the country.
At the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission, out of 163.25 lakh rural households in West Bengal, tap water supply to home was limited to only 2.14 lakh rural home that is about 1 per cent.
In the last 21 months, in West Bengal 14 lakh households have been given tap water connections, thus coverage has increased by 8.58 per cent to 9.90 per cent against the national average of 39 per cent.
In 41,357 villages and out of 1.63 crore rural households, about 1.48 crore rural homes are
to be provided with piped water connection.
In 2020-21, West Bengal provided 12.48 lakh tap water connections against a target of 55.58 lakhs.
'Due to slow implementation and resultant poor utilization of fund, the state could not draw the full allocated amount. Now, the state has planned to implement Jal Jeevan Mission with speed to provide tap water connections to 43.10 lakh rural homes in 2020-21 and 52.74 lakh FHTCs in 2022-23 and 2023-24,' the statement said.
To achieve these desirable targets the state has to speed up the implementation by four-fold, the statement said.
In a meeting held recently with the state, the National Jal Jeevan Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti reviewed the state's Annual Action Plans and is helping the state to prepare a road map to make West Bengal, a 'Har Ghar Jal' State by 2024, the statement said.
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