Union Jal Shakti Ministry will increase frequency of team visits to states to monitor Jal Jeevan Mission

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 23

The Union Jal Shakti Ministry will increase the frequency of visits of teams from National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) to states and UTs for inspection and monitoring of implementation of Centre’s flagship Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

The JJM aims to provide piped drinking water to every rural household in the country by 2024.

The Centre is particular about meeting the deadline.

NJJM's multidisciplinary 10-member team returned from a four-day visit to Rajasthan on Thursday. Various aspects of programme implementation and progress made under the mission by the state were discussed to understand the ground situation during the visit.

Assessment of state’s preparedness to meet the saturation deadline for ensuring 100 per cent tap water supply to all rural households was done by it.

The  team interacted  with district officials, local village community members of Gram Panchayat and Pani Samiti. Thereafter, the team shared their observations with the district officials as well as senior officers of the state government.

At present, 21.22 lakh rural homes (20.95 per cent) in the state have tap water supply.

Rajasthan faces extreme water scarcity in many parts of the state as it is a desert-prone area which receives scanty rain. The need for providing safe drinking water, therefore, becomes important and urgent in the state.