DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand still lags behind when it comes to providing water connection under Jal Shakti Mission scheme to rural areas of the hill state. A total of 14.61 lakh households have been identified across 13 districts of the state while only 3.59 have been provided with water connections which makes it just 24.60% of the target.
Commenting on the issue, Madan Kaushik state cabinet minister and the spokesperson for the state government said, "Our government is the first one to bring down the connection fee from Rs 2350 to Re 1 under this scheme. The honourable Prime Minister has appreciated us for this. We are committed to meet the target of providing connections to all selected households within a stipulated time period."
The water connections are to be provided under the central government's Jal Jeevan Mission which targets to provide drinking water supply line to every village of the country till 2024.
The scheme was launched in August 2019 by Jal Shakti Ministry of the union government.
Out of total 3.59 lakh connections across 13 districts of the hill state, Dehradun leads the way with 100749 against identified 120660 households which stands 83.50% of the set target. The capital city is followed by Chamoli with 32945 against identified 74017 households (44.51%), Nainital with 38785 against 109051 (37.57%), Rudraprayag with 15327 against 55226 (27.75%), Champawat with 11651 against 45890 (25.39%), Bageshwar with 11581 against 52156 (22.20%), Pithoragarh with 18293 against 93885 (19.48%), Almora with 24812 against 129317 (19.19%), Tehri with 130932 against 24848 (18.98%), Uttarkashi with 14097 with 75717 (18.62%), Haridwar with 33627 against 244899 (13.73%), Udham Singh Nagar with 20578 against 205713 (10%) and Pauri with 12432 against 124447 making it just 9.99% of the set connections target till date.
Interestingly, Chamoli district which ranks second in terms of providing water connections under the scheme after Dehradun has provided only half of the percentage of the state capital.
Earlier this year in July, in a move to provide respite to remote and rural areas of Uttarakhand, the state government had announced that rural household will be provided with water connections at Re 1 instead of earlier Rs 2350.
The sources in the state government said that Uttarakhand is probably the first state to provide water connection at such a nominal fee.
Till April 1, 2020, out of total 14,61,910 rural households in Uttarakhand state, only 2,17,120 had a water supply line, according to the central government data.
The scheme was launched in August 2019 by Jal Shakti Ministry of the Union government.
The Centre has already allocated Rs 3.60 lakh crore for the project. Out of the total funding, Rs 2.08 lakh crore will be provided by the Centre while Rs 1.52 lakh crore will be borne by the states.
According to the parameters of the scheme, every household should get a supply of at least 55 litres water per person per day.
For the ongoing financial year of 2020-21, the Union ministry has allocated over Rs 29,000 crore to states in which Uttarakhand's share stands at Rs 362.58 Crore.
The Centre has asked the states to speed up works to meet their respective targets and to prepare a Village Action Plan (VAP) for every hamlet.