The Stateof Andhra Pradeshpresented their Jal Jeevan Mission Annual Action Planvia video conference with details of the saturation plan for the financial year 2021-22, thereby ensuring every rural household getstap water connection. The State has 95.66 lakh rural households, out of which 44.91 lakh havetap water supply. The state today stands at 47.13% coverage of piped water connections. In 2021-22, the State plans to provide 32.47 lakh tap water connections in the rural areas. The State aims to make 13 districts and 17,044 villages ‘Har Ghar Jal’ in the current financial year.
Theextensive exercise of taking up the Annual Action Plan (AAP) of States/ UTs under Jal Jeevan Mission, is done by a national committee chaired by the Secretary, Department of Drinking Water &Sanitation andmembers from other ministries/ departments and NITI Aayog.Thereafter, funds are released throughout the year based on quarterly progress and expenditure incurred from time-to-time. The detailed planning exercise is undertaken tohelp the State achieve ‘Har Ghar Jal’.
In Andhra Pradesh, 14.34 lakh tap connections were provided inlast 1 ½ year under Jal Jeevan Mission. So far, 1,217villages in Andhra Pradesh have been declared ‘Har Ghar Jal’, which means every rural household in these villages has tap water supply. It is a big step forward to empower the community as it not just provides ‘ease of living’ towomen and young girls who are primarily the water managers in every household but also gives them time to pursue different activities and spend time with the family which was otherwise used to travel long distances to bring water for the family.
The committee urged the State to give undivided focus on coverage of priority areas i.e. water quality-affected habitations, Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes majority areas, Aspirational districts, drought prone area, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, etc.
The committee appreciated the effort made by the State in providing 100%piped water supply in41,653schools, 42,722anganwadicentres, 152 ashramshalas, 11,948 Gram Panchayat buildings and 14,383 healthcare centres under the 100-day campaign launched on 2nd October 2020.
Under Jal Jeevan Mission, in 2021-22, in addition to Rs 50,011 Crore budgetary allocation, there is also Rs 26,940 Crore assured fund available under the 15th Finance Commission tied-grant to RLB/ PRIs for water & sanitation, matching State share and externally aided as well as State funded projects. Thus, in 2021-22, more than Rs. 1 lakh Crore is likelyto be invested in the country for tap water supply to rural homes. This kind of investment in rural areas will boost the rural economy..
The Mission focusseson development of Village Action Plan (VAP) and formation of Pani Samitifor every village so that in the long-run the villagers takes the responsibility to operate and maintain the water supply infrastructure created under JJM. AndhraPradesh has constituted 7,131 VWSCsout of 18,650 villages. Under JJM, the local village community/ Gram Panchayats and or user groups in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of water supply systems in villages to ensure long-term sustainability thereby help achieve drinking water security.
Efforts are made to dovetail all available resources by convergence of different programmes viz. MGNREGS, SBM, 15th Finance Commission Grants to PRIs, CAMPA funds, Local Area Development Funds, etc. The State was impressed upon to utilize its convergence fund for grey water management and water harvesting, etc.
JJM is a flagship programme of the Union Government, which aims to provide piped tap water in every rural household by 2024.In 2020-21, Rs790Crorewasallocated by the Centre for the Stateto provide assured tap water supply.In the current financial year 2021-22,Centre has allocated Rs 2,000 Crore for developing the water supply infrastructure.
The AAP emphasizeson drinking water source strengthening/ augmentation, greywater treatment & reuse, and operation & maintenance of in-village water supply system. The State is planning to engage 408 experts in State, District and sub-district level. In addition to it,they intend to train 54,568people from Engineering cadre, state/ district/ block level officials, VWSC members, members of self-help group, etc.In 2021-22, the State plans to train18,536 personnelas plumber, electrician, mason and pump operator. These trained human resourceswill in turn be used for water supply infrastructure works as well as their operation and maintenance.
Under Jal Jeevan Mission, community is being encouraged tocarry out surveillance of water sources and delivery points from time-to-time to ascertain the quality of water supplied. PHE Department is facilitating the community to empower and engage with local people. For this, timely procurement and supply of field test kits to the Panchayats, identification of at least five women in every village for community engagement, training women on how to use the Field Test Kits andreporting the test result findings are given priority.9district laboratories have applied for NABL accreditation and are awaiting approval. The State has planned for setting up 69 sub-division level water testing laboratories.
The State was advised to pilotIoT based sensor for measurement and monitoring of water supply in villages.
****
BY/AS
