Tap water for each house by 2022: Himachal Chief Minister

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 28

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today said piped drinking water would be supplied through taps to every household in the state by July 2022 under the Jal Jeevan Mission. He stated this while interacting with beneficiaries of the Mission through video -conferencing from Shimla.

Thakur said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Jal Jeevan Mission on August 15, 2019, with the provision of Rs 3.5 lakh crore, which envisages to provide functional household tap connection to every rural household in the country by 2024.

He said 1,61,102 households had been provided tap water during 2019-20 and the target for the current financial year has been fixed at 2,44,351 households. Till date, 11 lakh households had been provided with tapped water under various programmes, he maintained.

The Chief Minister said the state had emerged as a front runner in the country in effective implementation of the Mission. Himachal Pradesh had got national recognition for providing fully functional household tapped water connection in Tashigang village in Lahaul Spiti district, situated about 14,000 feet above sea level. Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, better quality of water was being ensured, besides providing drinking water taps in every anganwari and educational institution.

He said 100 per cent coverage had been ensured in Lahaul-Spiti district, Kandaghat Development Block of Solan district and Pooh Development Block of Kinnaur district under the Mission. Also, 89 per cent households had been covered in Kinnaur district, 81 per cent in Solan district, 74 per cent in Bilaspur district, 72 per cent in Hamirpur district, 67 per cent in Mandi district, 62 per cent in Kangra district, 50 per cent each in Shimla and Kullu districts and 45 per cent in Chamba district, Thakur added.

Jal Shakti Minister Mahender Singh Thakur thanked the Chief Minister for envisaging interest in the overall functioning of the department.

He assured that the state would become first in the country in providing tapped water by mid of 2022.