SRINAGAR: Continuing the momentum, Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta today again conducted a virtual tour of works taken up under the central flagship programme Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) for their early completion across the UT of J&K.
He interacted with the public and officials of the department for first-hand appraisal of the progress made in the mission so far.
The meeting was attended by the Principal Secretary, Jal Shakti Department (JSD); Mission Director, JJM; Deputy Commissioners; Special Secretary, JSD; Director of Finance, JSD; Chief Engineers; Superintending Engineers; and other officers of the Jal Shakti Department either physically or virtually.
At the outset, the Chief Secretary asked the officers about the progress of the mission and asked them to meet the deadlines without fail. He also urged them to expedite the tendering of the remaining works so that these are taken up early and completed within the given timeframe. He also talked to locals and PRI members there and enquired from them about the quality and pace of work going on at each site.
He directed that clearances for laying of pipe networks through forests should be provided expeditiously while safeguarding the environment. He asked for monitoring such issues at the highest level so that no work gets delayed due to lack of attention.
He impressed upon them to involve the members of PaniSamities at every step so that they get accustomed to the nitty gritty of running these schemes successfully in the future as per the mandate of the mission. He enjoined upon the officers for evaluation of the works besides a greater role for public representatives and Paani Samities in monitoring the progress of various works.
He instructed the officers to carry out an assessment of the sustainability of the source of each water supply scheme. He also advised them to ensure that people are provided adequate quantity of potable water. He exhorted upon them to secure NABL accreditation of every water testing lab for third-party certification of the quality parameters.
Dr Mehta also maintained that presently the Jal Jeevan Mission is being implemented in the initial years of the ‘Amrit Kaal’ period which is quite heartening and one of the prerequisites for the ‘Viksit J&K’ endeavor. He made out that with the completion of this Mission, every household is going to get a functional tap water connection that embodies in itself a goal of ‘ Viksit Bharat Abhiyan ‘ towards empowering people at the grassroots level.
During the meeting, Dr Mehta also directed for dispensing with the practice of charging people annually for water usage. He instead asked for breaking the same into monthly bills so that the consumers find it easy and less cumbersome. He also stressed on switching to digital mode of payments for the ease of customers.
The Principal Secretary, Shaleen Kabra informed the Chief Secretary that the mission is under implementation since 2019 and has achieved substantial progress till now. He informed the meeting that out of the 18,67,803 rural households, 11,36,497 have been provided the Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) till date. He further added that during the months from Dec 2022 to May 2023, a total of 77008 FHTCs had been provided under JJM.
He revealed that every remaining rural household would possibly get the tap water connection under this mission by September this year as most of the targets would be completed by then. In the presentation, he threw light on all the aspects of the mission. He gave a detailed analysis of the objectives, procedures, progress, and way forward to take the mission to its logical conclusion within the given time limit.
It was further given out that of 6714 works, 5403 (81%) stand allotted to date. It was further revealed that 3358 works are currently under progress and 532 works stand completed in the UT.
It is noteworthy to mention here that the works of which the virtual assessment was taken by the Chief Secretary include Water Supply Schemes at Issoo (Anantnag), Heng (Baramulla), Akhnoor (Jammu), Banderpora (Pulwama), Vijhara (Bandipora), Gulgam, Tangwari (Kupwara), Chowki (Rajouri), Sangaldan (Ramban), Jawalapur (Kishtwar) and Seal (Doda).
