Ramzan raises water crisis issue
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 10: To alleviate the long-standing hardship faced by the residents of Rajwar in district Kupwara, six Water Supply Schemes (WSS) have been taken up under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) with the objective of providing adequate and safe drinking water to these villages.
As a result, many habitations like Check Saramang, Sammarg, Minidora, Khanbal, Rajpora, Sikander Mohalla (Hamla), Tand Mohalla (Wadder), Darina, Chanjmulla, Larlibal, Pati Nagni, Nagni Bala (Wadder Bala), Gujjar Patti, Shatigam Nagni, Nabadzeb, Chapran etc, that had never been connected to piped water supply, have now been provided access for the first time.
This was stated by the MoS Jal Shakti, V. Somanna while replying to a question by MP Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, during the question hour in Rajya Sabha.
The Minister further said that since August 2019, the Government of India is implementing JJM – Har Ghar Jal, in partnership with States/ UTs including J&K, to make provision of tap water connection to every rural household of the country.
“As reported by the UT of J&K on JJM-IMIS, at the start of JJM on 15.08.2019, only 5.75 lakh (39.89 per cent) rural households had tap water connections. Since then, around 9.89 lakh additional rural households have been provided with tap water connections. Thus, as on 28.01.2026, out of 19.26 lakh rural households in the UT, the provision of tap water connections is available to 15.64 lakh (81.23 per cent) rural households,” he maintained adding that the delays in the implementation of JJM were due to the impact of COVID-19, poor tender response, restrictions imposed post-August 2019, topographical and climatic challenges, paucity of funds, and delays in approval of schemes that were left in initial planning stage, which have affected the pace of JJM implementation.
He also said that to expedite the provision of tap water connections to all rural households in the country including those in J&K, concerted efforts have been made to accelerate the pace of implementation of JJM on ground.
“These include measures such as holding high level joint review meetings with the State Governments on regular basis and visits of multi-disciplinary teams from the department to highlight areas which need attention for expediting implementation to make provision of tap water supply to all households in a time bound manner,” he continued adding: “The department has also held meetings with 729 District Collectors/District Magistrates/ Collectors across the country, including all J&K districts, to review various aspects of the implementation of the JJM at the district level. DMs/ DCs/ Collectors have been urged to play a leadership role in monitoring progress of JJM through the District Water and Sanitation Mission dashboard and addressing the bottlenecks to ensure effective implementation of JJM.”
The MoS further said that to complete the ongoing works, the Finance Minister during her budget speech 2025-26 announced extension of JJM until 2028.
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