THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’, a joint initiative of the state and Central government to bring drinking water to all rural households in the state within next five years kickstarted here on Thursday. The project was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the guidelines of the project were also released. Local Self Government Minister A C Moideen and Water Resources Minister K Krishnankutty were also present.
The project is aimed at making available pure water in all rural households. The aim is to give connection and supply to 50 lakh houses by 2024. In the current financial year, the aim is to supply drinking water to 10 lakh households through pipe. The project launched as per Central government guidelines has the state government as an equal stakeholder. A whopping R 1,525 crore has been estimated for the project. The state has 67 lakh rural households.
Among them 17.50 lakh houses currently have pure water supply through the domestic water connection. Apart from this, 1.56 public taps across the state are also used to supply drinking water. The project aims at ensuring water supply at rural level by maintaining rural water supply projects with the help of local self- government bodies.