Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday said that the State was all set to provide 100 percent potable piped water connections to all rural households by 2022, with a whopping 50 percent of these households already covered with individual household water connections.
Capt Amarinder, in a video conference with Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, said that as of April 1, 2020, of the 1634 habitations in which groundwater was impacted, 477 had been provided potable water, and the State was committed to covering all rural households with piped water supply connections by March 2022, in line with the Punjab Government’s target even before the conceptualization of Jal Jiwan Mission by the Central Government.
To further boost the State’s efforts this direction, the Chief Minister sought reduction in GST on treatment plans as well as purification media from the current 18 to five percent in order to make the Jal Jiwan Mission (JJM) schemes sustainable in the long run. He pointed out that media in the water treatment plans need to be replaced every two to three years.
Capt Amarinder also urged the Union Minister to recognize the 1449 Kandi belt villages as ‘Hill Area’ to reduce the beneficiary contribution, from 10 to five percent for construction under the Jal Jiwan Mission (JJM).
“It is imperative also for the Central Government to support the State in availing finance from NABARD and other multilateral agencies to provide for the State share under JJM,” he said.
The Chief Minister also urged the Union Ministry to take up with DEA the issue of multilateral agencies, currently providing financing for water and sanitation sector, to allow country specific procurement practices (like rate contracts) to expedite procurement instead of insisting on their own procurement procedures.
On the issue of the Kandi belt villages, the Chief Minister said that the state government had been repeatedly raising the subject with the Centre for the past two years, but no action had yet been taken. These villages are akin to neighbouring villages of Himachal Pradesh which are receiving funding on a 90:10 sharing basis, with beneficiaries residing there required to contribute only five percent towards the cost of the scheme, he noted.
The Kandi belt villages should also be treated at par with Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) and Desert Development Programme (DDP) areas to facilitate beneficiaries, particularly in view of the high cost of boring tubewells and construction schemes, he added.
Regarding the status of universal coverage of piped water supply in Punjab, the Chief Minister said as of April 1, 2020, 17.48 lakh households had been covered. Of the remaining 17,59,542 households, 7.60 lakhs are proposed to be covered in 2020-21, and the remaining in 2021-22.
In terms of habitations, the state has already covered 92 percent of the rural habitations with piped water supply network, and 50 percent rural households have been provided with individual household water connections, he added.
Underlining the state’s consistent focus on service delivery parameters for water supply, the Chief Minister said that the norm fixed is 70 litres per capita per day and 10 hours supply per day. However, there are many villages where the State has been able to achieve 24x7 supply also, he added.