State of Manipur presented its Annual Action Plan under Jal Jeevan Mission today via video conferencing before the committee of the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, with members from different Central Ministries/ Departments and NITI Aayog. Manipur has around 4.51 lakh rural households, out of which 2.27 lakh households have tap water supply, as on 31st March 2021. 1.96 lakh new tap water connections were provided in 2020-21 despite Covid- 19 pandemic. The State has planned for 100% saturation by 2021-22 under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) by providing tap water connections to remaining 2.25 lakh households.
As the financial year2021-22 begins, the rigorous exercise to finalize the Annual Action Plans (AAPs)of Jal Jeevan Missionof the States/ UTs has begun from 9th April. The committee carries out scrutiny of the proposed Annual Action Plan (AAP) prepared by States/ UTs before finalizing the same. Thereafter, funds are released throughout the year and regular field visits, review meetings are held to ensure implementation of the Annual Action Plan to achieve the goal of Jal Jeevan Mission. Further, States/ UTs can also receive performance incentive grant provided they have good physical and financial progress and their capacity to utilize the fund.
In 2020-21, Manipur was amongst the seven States, which received performance incentive grant under the JJM for better performance. The other six States were Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Under Jal Jeevan Mission, funds are provided by Government of India based on the output in terms of household tap connections provided and the utilization of available central and matching State share funds.
The Annual Action Planof Manipur for 2021–22emphasizes on support activities like training the members of Village Water & Sanitation Committees (VWSCs), preparation and approval of Village Action Plans (VAPs) having components of drinking water source strengthening/ augmentation, water supply infrastructure, greywater treatment & reuse, and operation & maintenance of in-village water supply systems. Further, the Stateto plan for intense training and skilling programmes i.e. identification of especially 5 persons in every village on water quality surveillance and local community members as masons, plumbers, electricians, motor mechanics, pump operators, etc to create a cadre of trained human resources in villages to take care of construction works as well as operation and maintenance works. IEC activities to be carried out in the State to make people aware about importance of water making JJM, a people’s movement.
The State has been asked to give importance to water testing for bacteriological & chemical contamination of water as per the existing protocol. Water quality testing laboratories at district &State levels are opened for general public to test the water at nominal rate.Local community is being encouraged for surveillance of water quality. Public Health Engineering Department is facilitating to empower and engage with the village community. Various planned activities like timely procurement of Field Test Kits, supply of kits to the community, identification of at least five women in every village, training women for use of Field Test Kits and reporting and collating the reports with laboratory-based findings of the water sources are carried out.
Jal Jeevan Mission, Union Government’s flagship programme aims to provide Functional Household Connection to every rural home of the country by 2024, thereby improving the lives and enhancing ‘ease of living’ of the people living in rural areas.Keeping in mind the prevailing CoVid-19 cases surge in the country, the National Jal Jeevan Mission is working with States to ensure tap water connections provided to rural households, so that rural people, especially women and girl children don’t have to go a distance to public stand posts to fetch water.
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