Around 100 districts are about to turn 'Har Ghar Jal' districts soon in the country. So far, 96 districts in the country have covered all its households with piped water connection. Of the 96 districts 14 districts are from Punjab and 10 districts from Gujarat, said the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti in a statement here.
Country’s 1100 blocks have become Har Ghar Jal blocks and 1,31,847 villages have become Har Ghar Jal villages.
In January this year, Punjab’s 8 and Gujarat’s 5 districts achieved this milestone while over a dozen districts have crossed the 99 per cent mark. Both Gujarat and Punjab, have set the target to provide all its rural households with piped water connections under Jal Jeevan Mission this year instead of 2024, the statement said further.
So far under the central Ministry’s flagship Har Ghar Jal, around 46 per cent rural households in the country have been covered with piped drinking water.
During the announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission on August 15, 2019, less than 17% of the population i.e. less than 3 Crore 24 lakh families were getting piped drinking water. In merely 29 months, nearly 8 Cr 46 lakh families are getting piped drinking water.
Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, said, "Several people have now become the beneficiaries of Jal Jeevan mission. Provision of piped drinking water to every household will not only make the life of women easier but will also ensure healthy and prosperous lives to all the families.”
Besides Gujarat’s Dang, Junagarh and Gir Somnath, Morabi and Patan district also became the Har Ghar Jal district in January this year. Before this, Anand, Botaal, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Porbandar and Vadodara have been provided with the piped drinking water connections so far.
This means that in these 10 districts, every 23,85,268 houses along with the state's 83,21,000 houses have been provided with piped drinking water which is 91% of the state's total 91, 77, 000 households. During the announcement of the mission, Gujarat’s 65,16,000 households were provided with drinking water supply. Thus, over 18,05,000 households have received tap water connections in the past 29 months.
On the other hand in Punjab all rural households in its 14 districts have been provided with piped drinking water. In the first 25 days of this New Year, eight districts have achieved this milestone.
Now, 14 districts out of 22 districts in Punjab’s rural areas have become the beneficiary of Jal Jeevan Mission. Every rural household of Punjab will be provided with piped drinking water in 2022. Before the inception of this mission in the state, nearly 16,78,000 households were provided with drinking water. However, the number has now increased to 33,90,000 households out of a total 34,40,000 which is 98.57, as per the statement.