The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a mega Centrally-sponsored project, with Rs 60,000 crore earmarked for it in the 2022-23 Union Budget, aims to wipe out visions of rural womenfolk walking kilometres under the scorching Sun to fetch drinking water. The project envisions providing drinking water tap connections to each and every rural household by 2024.
Karnataka was initially lagging behind in implementation after it was launched on August 15, 2019. In 2020-21, functional household tap connections (FHTCs) had been provided to only 3.43 lakh households. Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat visited Karnataka in July last year to review its implementation, and noting the slow pace of implementation, had asked the state to pull up its socks.
In the last few months, Karnataka shifted gears to catch up with other states. So far, it has already achieved the target of 45.44 lakh households. In 2022-23, the target is to provide connections to 27.14 lakh households, and in 2023-24, to another 17.45 lakh. The state has so far provided functional household tap connections (FHTCs) to 46.40 per cent (national average is 46.59%) of a total target of 97.91 lakh households across rural Karnataka (3.8 crore across rural India) by 2024.
“From the 26th place, we are now in the 14th position,” says Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister K S Eshwarappa. “We are now almost at par with the national average, and, in a few months, we’ll surpass it.”On February 9, the state cabinet approved 16 projects to provide tap water to 6,17,697 households in 6,357 villages. Water sources, including lakes or even borewells, in places with good groundwater tables are available in all these places.
Union Minister Shekhawat has assured all assistance to Karnataka for providing tap water supply to every rural home. In 2021-22, Rs 1,426 crore was allocated to Karnataka as 15th Finance Commission-tied grants for water and sanitation to rural local bodies and panchayat raj institutions and there is an assured funding of Rs 7,524 crore for the next five years – up to 2025-26 – to rural local bodies. This investment in rural areas of Karnataka is expected to accelerate economic activities and boost the rural economy, besides creating income generation opportunities in the villages.
CHALLENGES
But several challenges lurk in the background, which need to be overcome to ensure that the project remains sustainable. Basically, according to the stakeholders and beneficiaries, it is not just providing FHTCs but ensuring steady supply of water by implementing all the components of the JJM.
The success of the JJM – which is called ‘Mane Manege Gange’ in Karnataka – requires water source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through greywater management, water conservation and rainwater harvesting. Besides, the project is planned to be based on a community approach to water with extensive information, education and communication as key components of the mission, aiming to usher in a water revolution, thereby making it everyone’s priority.
Officials in the Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Department (RDWSD), which is working to provide clean drinking water to the rural areas, say there are also challenges of converging parallel projects, which, in the long run, can prove to be beneficial. There are a number of ongoing Central and state-funded schemes for water conservation, groundwater recharge, rainwater harvesting and grey water management aiming to achieve water security.
“Convergence of JJM with the ongoing schemes will augment funds and enhance water resources in terms of quality and quantity. While convergence activities are to be taken up under in-village infrastructure, special efforts are to be made in forested and tribal areas, water quality-affected and water-stressed areas to achieve water security,” explains an RDWSD official.In addition to water conservation activities taken up through convergence, the JJM also needs to coordinate with other Central and State Government programmes aimed at skill development, training, capacity-building and awareness generation among the local communities.
OVERCOMING PROBLEMS
There are also problems encountered in implementing the project in the absence of proper water sources. For instance, in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts, the JJM has not yet commenced as there are no water sources. The entire region depends on borewell water as these districts have no perennial rivers. According to Chikkamagalur Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Shiva Shankar, the project could not be commenced in full swing as there is no sustainable water source in the district.
Besides, some parts of Afzalpur and Aland taluks in Kalaburagi district are likely to face drinking water crisis in the last week of May and first week of June. If it doesn’t rain in the second week of June, the entire district may face drinking water crisis. Officials say this requires extensive training of locals to familiarise themselves with measures like rainwater harvesting, water storage and conservation.
The progress of the project in Chitradurga has been a bit slow due to delays in supply of surface water from the backwaters of Tungabhadra dam which supplies water to Kudligi, Molakalmuru, Challakere, Chitradurga and Pavagada.
Besides, there are many scattered rural households that cannot be connected with pipelines and the residents need to be trained to achieve water security. For example, at least 30 households in Kodagu district have been rejected to be included in the JJM because they are spread out or scattered.
“There are chances that 30 in the identified 168 habitations in the third phase might be rejected as the panchayat is not willing to provide pipeline connections to scattered households in a few rural areas,” Kodagu ZP executive engineer Jawaregowda explains.
Problems of contractors and labourers too are threatening to slow down the project. Shivamogga ZP CEO M L Vaishali says implementation got delayed because no contractors came forward to take up the works. “The department was forced to invite tenders five times during the implementation of the first phase. Now, the contractors are coming forward. We wanted to encourage local contractors in this project, but they hardly turned up,” she says. In Hassan, labour problems are blamed for the slow pace of projects. Stakeholders are stressing on a larger role to be played by civil society and beneficiaries in gaining awareness about water sources and conservation, like rainwater harvesting and better water management techniques.
(With inputs from Ramu Patil in Bengaluru; Karthik KK in Mysuru; Prajna G R in Kodagu; Udaya Kumar B R in Hassan; Ramkrishna Badseshi in Kalaburagi; G Subhash Chandra in Davangere; Mahesh Goudar in Bagalkot; V Velayudham in Kolar and Ramachandra V Gunari in Shivamogga)