NEW DELHI: For ensuring clean drinking water to all Urban Local Body (ULB) areas, the Centre has set aside a major chunk of Rs 2.87 lakh crore for the Jal Jeevan Mission-Urban. The Union Budget has announced launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban).
It aims at universal water supply in all 4,378 ULBs with 2.88 crore household tap connections, as well as liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities. It will be implemented over five years, with an outlay of Rs 2,87,000 crore.
“The WHO has repeatedly stressed the importance of clean water, sanitation, and a clean environment as a prerequisite to achieving universal health. ... Liquid waste management would be carried out across 500 AMRUT (the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) cities,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech.
The project comes on the lines of Jal Jeevan Mission-Rural with an aim to provide tap water connection to 19.04 crore rural households by 2024. So far, tap water connections have been given to 3.3 crore rural households.
According to Jal Shakti Ministry, the government has set aside Rs 50,000 crore for drinking water and Rs 10,000 crore for sanitation.
“It is important to mention that the government had allocated Rs 30,478 crore to the Ministry of Jal Shakti in the last budget of which Rs 21,500 crore were provisioned for drinking water and sanitation. The Jal Jeevan Mission was allocated Rs 11,500 crore separately,” said Jal Shakti minister GS Shekhawat.
The Budget also focused on faecal sludge management and waste water treatment, source segregation of garbage, reduction in single-use plastic, reduction in air pollution by effectively managing waste from construction-and-demolition activities among others.