Potable piped water connections to all rural households of Punjab by 2022: CM

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, May 18

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said the state was all set to provide 100 per cent potable piped water connections to all the rural households by 2022.

Fifty per cent of these households have been already covered with individual water connections.

In a video-conference with Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Chief Minister said as of April 1, 2020, of the 1,634 habitations in which ground water was impacted, 477 had been provided potable water, and the state was committed to cover all rural households with piped water supply connections by March 2022, in line with the Punjab Government’s target set even before the conceptualisation of Jal Jiwan Mission by the Central Government.

The Chief Minister sought reduction in GST on treatment plans as well as purification media from the current 18 per cent to 5 per cent, in order to make the Jal Jiwan Mission schemes sustainable in the long run.

He pointed out that media in the water treatment plans need to be replaced every 2-3 years.

Captain Amarinder also urged the Union Minister to recognise the 1,449 Kandi belt villages as ‘hill area’ to reduce the beneficiary contribution, from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, for construction under the Jal Jiwan Mission.

On the issue of the Kandi belt villages, the Chief Minister said the state government had been repeatedly raising the subject with the Government of India for the past two years, but no action had yet been taken.

These villages are akin to neighbouring villages of Himachal Pradesh which are receiving funding on a 90:10 sharing basis, with beneficiaries residing there required to contribute only 5 per cent towards the cost of the scheme, the CM noted.

Regarding the status of universal coverage of piped water supply in Punjab, the Chief Minister said as of April 1, 2020, 17.48 lakh households had been covered.

Of the remaining 17,59,542 households, 7,60,000 are proposed to be covered in 2020-21, and the remaining in 2021-22, he said.

In terms of habitations, the state has already covered 92 per cent of the rural habitations with piped water supply network, and 50 per cent rural households have been provided with individual household water connections, the CM added.