NEW DELHI: The Jal Shakti Ministry has approved Rs 465 crore as performance incentive grant to Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a statement said on Saturday.
It said Gujarat was among the best performing states in implementing JJM to ensure tap water supply to every household.
Northeastern states have implemented JJM with speed and scale despite hilly terrain and forested areas, the statement said.
It is for the first time that five northeast states have qualified for the performance incentive grant, it added.
"Seven states viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh qualified for performance incentive grant for 2020-21 under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), Har Ghar Jal to provide assured tap water supply to every rural home by 2024," the statement said.
"For performance incentive grant, the criteria include physical and financial progress under JJM, functionality of piped water supply schemes and capacity to utilise the fund. Today, Union Minister, Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Sekhawat approved Rs 465 crore as performance incentive to these states," it added.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdowns and disruption, speedy implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission on the ground has set an example and during the financial year, more than 3.
16 crore rural households have been provided tap water connection, the statement said.
Currently, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa and Telangana have become 'Har Ghar Jal' states/UT, and every household in 55 districts and 85,000 villages of the country have tap water supply, it said.
Since the announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission on August 15, 2019, four crore households have been provided tap water connections, thus increasing the tap water supply from 3.23 crore (17 per cent) rural households in the country to more than 7.20 crore (37.6 per cent), the statement added.
This is the "speed and scale" of the work being undertaken to provide clean drinking water to every rural household, it said.
In the financial year 2020-21, Rs 11,000 crore was allocated for Jal Jeevan Mission and grants have been provided to states/UTs based on output in terms of functional household tap connections given and the utilisation of available central grant and matching state share, the statement added.