Meghalaya has submitted its annual action plan on planning and implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in the State.
The action plan was submitted to the committee of the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
Jal Jeevan Mission is a flagship program of the Government of India to provide household tap water connection to every rural household of the country by 2024.
Meghalaya has 5.89 lakh rural households, out of which tap connections are provided to 93,000 (16 per cent) rural households.
The State has provided 87,000 tap connections on 2020-21. It plans to achieve the target of providing water connection to all households by December 2022.
In 2020-21, Meghalaya was amongst the seven states which received performance incentive grants under the JJM. The other six States were Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim, Gujarat, Manipur and Himachal Pradesh.
Under JJM, during 2021-2022, Meghalaya is likely to get about Rs 350 crore central funds. The State was urged to utilise various funds available through the convergence of different programmes at village level and a Village Action Plan (VAP) for every village should be devised by dovetailing all these resources for long-term drinking water security.
The committee of the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti has advised Meghalaya to focus on the planning at village level and formation of Village Water & Sanitation Committees (VWSCs) to play a key role in drinking water supply in villages.
The State was advisedto get NABL accreditation/ recognition of all 33 water testing labs immediately and testing of all 100 per cent drinking water sources as per JJM guidelines.
Under Jal Jeevan Mission, priority is being given on water quality surveillance through active participation of frontline functionaries as well as involving the local community. Five persons, especially women, are being trained in every village to use the Field Test Kits to test the quality of water.
Besides, an effective strategy to inform, educate and communicate the people has to be devised by the State to instill behavioural change and community mobilisation for various aspects of water supply and water conservation.
As the financial year, 2021-22 begins the rigorous joint review exercise to finalise the annual action plans has begun from April 9. The committee carries out scrutiny of the proposed annual action plan prepared by states and union territories before finalising the same. Thereafter, funds are released throughout the year and regular field visits, review meetings are held to ensure implementation of the Annual Action Plan to achieve the goal of Jal Jeevan Mission.
Further, states and union territories also have the opportunity to receive performance incentive provided they have good physical and financial progress, the functionality of PWS schemes and the capacity to utilise the fund.
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