Over 50,000 gram panchayats have tap water under Jal Jeevan Mission, Centre said. (Representational)
Marking a major milestone, one lakh villages and over 50,000 gram panchayats have tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Jal Shakti Ministry said on Wednesday.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, the Jal Jeevan Mission provided 4.49 crore tap water connections during 23 months and also made 50,000 gram panchayats ''Har Ghar Jal'' by providing tap water supply to every household in these panchayats, the ministry said.
"The Jal Jeevan Mission, working with speed and scale, has today achieved a milestone of providing tap water supply to every household in 1 lakh villages across India, in a short period of 23 months," the ministry said.
Launched on August 15, 2019 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the JJM aims to provide tap water connections to all rural households. The Centre has allocated a whopping Rs 50,000 crore for this mega scheme.
At the launch of this ambitious programme, out of 18.94 crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 crore (17 per cent) had tap water connections.
Tap water supply has reached 7.72 crore (40.77 per cent) households. Goa, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry have achieved 100 per cent tap water supply in rural areas.
"At present, 71 districts, 824 blocks, 50,309 gram panchayats and 1,00,275 villages have achieved the target of ''Har Ghar Jal''," the ministry added.
During the last 23 months, tap water supply has increased four-fold from 7 per cent to 33 per cent in 117 aspirational districts.
Similarly, more than 97 lakh households have been provided with tap water supply in 61 districts affected by Japanese Encephalitis- Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (JE-IES).
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