The state government has announced a significant relief measure for the villagers of Uttar Pradesh under the Jal Jeevan Mission, waiving the 10% community contribution for the ‘Har Ghar Nal’ scheme. The state government has decided to waive the community contribution for the Har Ghar Nal scheme, sparing the rural population from any financial burden, a senior officer said here.

Earlier, the scheme required villagers to contribute 10% of the capital cost for providing tap water connections to every household. However, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has emphasised that this expense should not burden the common people, reaffirming the government’s commitment to public welfare, he added.

Notably, a total of 40,951 schemes worth Rs 1.52 lakh crore have been approved under the Jal Jeevan Mission in Uttar Pradesh, with the Centre and state sharing Rs 71,714.68 crore each, the officer pointed out.

The government has relieved villagers of the Rs 9,092.42 crore community contribution by allocating Rs 2,000 crore in the current financial year’s budget, benefiting 2.33 crore families. The Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide clean drinking water to the rural population of Uttar Pradesh.

Initially, the community contribution involved collecting 5% of the capital cost in villages with a higher SC/ST population and 10% in other villages. However, the government, considering access to clean drinking water a basic public welfare responsibility, has decided to exempt the rural population from this contribution, officials said.

Currently, the community contribution is being covered by the state governments of Haryana, Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal. In Rajasthan, the chief minister has announced that the state government will bear the cost, while in Madhya Pradesh, the matter is still under consideration.

While the Yogi government has waived the community contribution, villagers will be required to pay a nominal Rs 50 to their gram panchayat as a maintenance charge under the Har Ghar Nal scheme.

The Jal Jeevan Mission in the Bundelkhand region has so far covered 97% of families or 1.40 lakh families in Mahoba, Jhansi: 99.15% (2,49,100 families); Lalitpur: 99.46% (2,05,865 families); Chitrakoot: 99.83% (1,63,698 families); Banda: 99.34% (2,67,198 families); Jalaun: 95.87% (2,03,309 families); and Hamirpur: 99.32% (1,85,261 families).

In the Vindhya Region, progress in tap water access is as follows: Mirzapur: 98.34% (3,49,292 families) and Sonbhadra: 80.83% (2,53,938 families).

Anurag Shrivastava, Additional Chief Secretary, Namami Gange and Water Supply, said: “The UP government has ensured that rural residents face no financial burden for basic amenities like clean drinking water. A Rs 2,000 crore budget provision for 2024-25 reinforces its commitment to providing safe drinking water to every household.”