Jalotsav to assess quality of tap water in Assam

GUWAHATI: The Assam government will launch Jalotsav to assess the quality and functionality status of piped water supply to every household even as statistics revealed that barely 42% households in the most populous northeastern state have got tap water connection under the Centre’s flagship scheme for drinking water, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
While seven states and Union Territories in the country have achieved 100% target in ensuring piped water to rural households three years after its launch, in Assam more than households, a bigger percentage of government schools and anganwadi centres have benefited from JJM.
“After the completion of the cent percent target next year in Assam, we are going to assess the quality of water and functionality through Jalotsav,” said state public health engineering minister Jayanta Malla Baruah at a news conference here on Wednesday. He claimed that Assam has achieved major success since the launch of JJM in 2019.
“Of the 3.3 crore Assam population, only 1.11 lakh rural population had tap water connection in the state before the launch of JMM in 2019. Barely, 1.5% of Assam’s population was getting tap water connection at that time. Now, after three years 28.27 lakh people of the state, accounting for 42.1% of the targeted population, have tap water,” said Baruah.
“A total of 83% of schools and 72% of anganwadi centres have been given piped water in the state,” Baruah added.
He informed that the state government has set a goal to achieve a cent percent target by 2024. Baruah informed that 2,021 villages in Assam now have piped water supply to every household under JJM.
Further, women self-help groups have been roped in for monitoring the availability of piped water. “Nearly 60% of the connections remain operational without flaws. This is geo-tagged data, which is accurate. We are working on correcting the flaws in the remaining 40% connections,” Baruah added.
The department on Wednesday notified that piped water will have to be released from 6 am to 7 am in the morning and 4 pm to 5 pm in the evening from the projects operational under JJM to minimize wastage of water. Each person of a rural household has to get 55 litres of piped water everyday under JJM.
“Every day, till the advent of the rainy season, our target is to connect 7,000 to 8,000 households with piped water to achieve the cent percent target by 2024,” Baruah added.