Bengaluru, March 5. India is making giant strides in ensuring potable water to all rural households. The country has provided nearly 6 Crore tap water connections in the last 2½ years and currently 47 percent of households in the country have functional household tap connections (FFTC),, said the union minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
He was inaugurating the Regional Conference of Ministers from 6 States and 2 Union Territories at Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru today. The conference was held to review the progress made under Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen.
The minister pointed out that the steep rise in tap water connection in the last 2.5 years was facilitated by the Jal Jivan Mission (JJM) which was launched in August 2019 with aim of providing FFTC to all rural households by 2024.
Commenting on the rural urban divide in access to drinking water the minister said, “We need to bridge the gap between the rural and urban. In line with the philosophy of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi of ensuring ‘no one is left out’, we are marching ahead to achieve 100% tap water connectivity to all rural households of the country. Both JJM and SBM(G) have travelled half way and people need to understand the importance of taking forward these programmes.
Jal Jeevan Mission is the world’s largest drinking water project. When the programme was launched, we were at 17% and It is important to plan, issue work order and ensure work starts especially where multi-village schemes are proposed, as it will take longer time to complete. We cannot miss the target deadlines set for 100% tap water coverage across all States/ Union territories”, said Mr. Shekhawat.
The 6 participating States and 2 UTs were Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Puducherry and Lakshadweep. Shri Basavaraj Bommai, Chief Minister of Karnataka welcomed the delegates attending the conference in Bengaluru
