STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Assam's Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department has been so far able to provide functional household tap connections (FHTC) to 42.1 per cent of the targeted 67.19 lakh rural households in the State under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
Addressing the media on Wednesday, PHE Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah said that 29,568 schemes were sanctioned under FHTC, out of which 5,190 schemes have been completed. Mallabaruah said that before launching of the JJM, only 1.11 lakh households – 1.6 per cent of the total number of households – had functional tap water connections in the State.
He added that the PHE Department had targeted to install FHTC in 28.1 lakh households in the financial year 2022-23, out of which 5.01 lakh connections have been completed. The remainder will be completed by June 30 next, he said.
The 4,300 completed schemes have been already handed over to the water User Committees concerned, he said. The PHE Minister said that FHTC connections are also being installed in schools and Anganwadi centres in rural areas. So far, 37,634 schools (83 per cent) of schools and 27,711 Anganwadi centres (72 per cent) have already been provided with tap water connections, he said.
Mallabaruah said that today onwards, the connected households will be provided running water from 6 am to 7 am and again from 4 pm to 5 pm daily.
Mallabaruah said that implementation of the Swacch Bharat Mission 2.0, which aims to end the practice of open defecation in rural areas, is underway in the State. The rules in this regard were recently changed to allow transfer of funds for construction of individual household latrines (IHHL) in direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode. Previously, construction of IHHLs was done by NGOs or contractors, which had led to various complaints. Now, the fund will be given to the beneficiary concerned in two installments via DBT and this will be done through linkage with the Orunodoi scheme, Mallabaruah added.
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