India adds 20 million tap water connections in single year
India has managed to add about 20 million tap water connections in a single year under the Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission even as Telangana has reportedly emerged as the winner among all states in providing functional household tap connections for drinking water.
The total coverage of household tap connection has gone over 51 million and for providing all households with piped water connection by 2024, another 138 million homes would need to be covered.
However, Government officials have expressed concern regarding the challenge in provision of household tap connections for drinking water in some of the large states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam. In several of these states, less than five per cent population has access to tap water.
According to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, Telangana has provided 53.44 lakh functional household tap connections, covering 98.29 per cent of the total rural households in the state. No other state has coverage of more than 90 per cent households.
Within Telangana, four districts – Adilabad, Karimnagar, Medchal and Warangal (Urban) – have 100 per cent rural household tap connection coverage whereas in most other districts, there is over 96 per cent coverage. The only district that has less than 95 per cent coverage in the state is Nirmal, with 94.8 per cent.
As per the Ministry, Goa comes second in the country in providing functional household tap connections for drinking water with 89.05 per cent while Haryana was third with 79.78 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat government has decided to regularise illegal drinking water connections for independent residential households in urban areas even as it expressed its intention to provide tap water connections to slum areas.
The plans have been formulated Under the Centre’s ‘Nal se Jal’ scheme.
The state Government said regularisation of drinking water connections in urban areas will be done after collecting a fee of Rs 500 each for connections in municipal corporations and other towns till December 2020.
The state government has also decided to provide tap water connections to slums in major cities and towns, said Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who recently reviewed the work of ‘Jal se Nal’ scheme in the states with the heads of urban local bodies.
The ULBs have been instructed about the government’s decision to regularise illegal water connections.
Rupani recently said all rural households will be provided with tap water by 2022 even as out of the 93 lakh rural households in Gujarat, 68.63 lakh have tap water connectivity. The government will provide an additional 11.15 lakh households with tap water this fiscal year.
