VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to ensure supply of safe drinking water to every household in the State through functional household tap connections (FHTCs) in the coming three years.
Holding a review meeting on rural water supply and Jal Jeevan Mission at the State Secretariat on Thursday, he said the NDA government launched the JJM with the sole aim of supplying safe drinking water to every household, but the previous YSRC regime not only destabilised the scheme but also miserably failed in getting funds for it.
Of the total Rs 27,248 crore released by the Centre for the JJM, the YSRC government had spent mere Rs 4,235 crore, and over 28 lakh houses are yet to get water through FHTCs. States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala are utilising the JJM to the maximum extent possible, while the scheme failed to achieve progress in the State as the previous regime did not release the matching grant for it, he said.
Directing the officials to formulate plans for supply of uninterrupted safe drinking water to every household, the Chief Minister felt that pipelines can be built from the nearest reservoir in rural areas. The officials should coordinate with the irrigation authorities to know the capacity of water storage and utilisation in implementing the plans, Naidu said.
The officials informed him that out of the total 95.44 lakh houses in 26 districts of the State, 31.68 lakh houses got tap connections before 2019 itself. During 2019-24, the YSRC government could supply water to merely 39.68 lakh houses.
Directing the officials to prepare the Detailed Project Report to give tap connections to the remaining 28 lakh households, Naidu wanted them to make the top-level consultants partners in the scheme and utilise the latest technology of SCADA for speedy supply of water and check leakage.
“We will get funds from the Centre by making a request and also by correcting the mistakes of the previous regime. The main target of the government is to supply safe drinking water to all the households in the State by 2027. Had the JJM been implemented effectively in the past five years, all the households would have got safe drinking water by this time,” he observed.
Deputy Chief Minister (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development) Pawan Kalyan and the senior officials of Rural Water Supply Department attended the meeting.