The Centre on Tuesday (10 March) said that about 3.77 crore rural households has got tapped water connections under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
The Ministry of Jal Shakti stated that over seven crore families in rural areas now have an assured tap water connection.
In a statement, the Ministry said despite Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, the drinking water supply work continued to provide nearly one lakh connections every day.
On 15 August 2019, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the JJM with an aim to provide tap water connection in every rural household by 2024.
“At the time when the mission was announced, out of 18.93 crore rural households, only 3.23 crore (17 per cent) had tap water connections. About 15.70 crore households (HHs) were to be provided with tap water by 2024,” it said.
In addition, functionality of all existing water supply systems and tap connections were also to be ensured.
The programme directly benefits more than 19 crore rural families, improving public health.
“Despite pandemic and lockdown, the drinking water supply work continued. The lockdown-1 was utilized for planning activities. Further, water supply was deemed one of the essential items and the work continued following due precautions. There were almost over lakh connections being provided every day,” the ministry said.
According to the ministry, as on date, more than 3.77 crore HHs were provided with tap water connections, that is more than seven crore rural families (36.5 per cent) started getting clean water in their homes, more than one third of rural households are getting potable water through taps.
The ministry pointed out that every family living in 52 districts, 670 blocks, 42,100 Panchayats and 81,123 villages are getting assured tap water supply in their homes.
“Goa has become the first state in the country to provide 100 per cent tap water connections followed by Telangana. Different states are competing with each other and focusing on the target to ensure that every household in the country gets safe drinking water,” it said.
(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)