The ‘Har Ghar Jal Yojana’ of the Ministry of Jal Shakti has achieved a significant milestone of providing tap water to new rural households with over five crore (5,00,09,340).
“Since the announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission in August, 2019, in just about 25 months, over 5 Crore families have been provided with tap water connection in their homes,” Jal Shakti Ministry said in a statement.
In 2019, out of about 18.93 crore households in rural areas, only 3.23 crore (17 percent) had tap water connections, but with this scheme, about 8.24 crore rural households (42.83 percent) have started getting pure drinking water in sufficient quantity through taps.
“Assured tap water supply in homes relieves people, especially women and young girls, from fetching water, carrying heavy loads at a distance, etc. thus, reducing their age-old drudgery. The newfound time is being used for income generation activities, learning new skills, supporting children’s education, etc,” it added.
The statement also mentioned that today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would interact with Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSC), also called Pani Samitis on issues related to drinking water in their villages.
VWSC prepares a one-time Village Action Plan (VAP) that will consist of four major components- Drinking water source augmentation, Drinking water supply system, Greywater treatment and its reuse, and Regular operation and maintenance of in-village water supply system.
Further, a cadre of 30-40 members in every village is being trained and skilled to build their capacities to manage their in-village water supply systems.
