Union Jal Shakti Minister chairs NE Review meeting on JJM & SBM (G)

 GUWAHATI: The north-eastern states have made significant progress in respect of the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’. A state like Assam, which started with 1 per cent development, has now achieved 54 per cent progress under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). This was stated by Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, at a press briefing in Guwahati on Thursday.

The Union Minister chaired the review meeting with the NE States on Thursday on the progress of JJM and SBM (G) to expedite the implementation of the two flagship schemes in the Northeastern States. State PHE Ministers and other senior state officials attended the meeting. Secretary DDWS, AS&MD (NJJM), JS&MD (SBM), and other senior officers from the Ministry were also present.

Briefing the media, he acknowledged the efforts of the Chief Minister of Assam, who analyses periodically the progress, and State Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah for this advancement in the Jal Jeevan Mission project in Assam. He also hopes Assam will achieve the desired goal in 2024. He said that except Assam, all northeastern states will achieve the 100 per cent goal of the Jal Jeevan Mission on January 26, 2024.

Addressing the event, He said, “We know that swachhta and drinking water are the main elements of ease of living for people and the strengthening of Gramin Bharat. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a resolution in the year 2014 from Red Fort, in the coming five years India will declare itself ‘open defecation free’, which is now considered a step towards complete sanitation. Now the village is progressing to establish waste management systems like solid waste management, organic waste management, plastic waste management, and cow dung management.

Earlier, when 62 per cent citizens were without proper sanitation systems, now 100 per cent of the population of India has accessible toilets, either at home or in community toilets. The meeting began with a welcome address by the PHE Minister of Assam, Jayanta Malla Baruah, followed by the setting of the agenda by Secretary of Drinking Water and Sanitation Vini Mahajan, who shared the mission’s overview and status of implementation of works in the various States. It may be recalled that the last review meeting was held on May 1 in Guwahati. State Ministers presented the progress of JJM and SBM in brief. Shekhawat expressed his satisfaction with the performance since the last meeting.

Thanking all the State Ministers and officials for their active participation in the review meeting, the Union Minister, Jal Shakti, appreciated their concerns as well as their valuable suggestions to improve the pace of implementation of the missions while ensuring the quality of the work.

Shekhawat appealed to all senior officers to give primacy to the quality of work by ensuring regular inspection and taking corrective measures. He assured there would be no dearth of funds from the Government of India and extended all assistance to ensure the States became ‘Har Ghar Jal’ in a time-bound and expeditious manner.

He made a special mention of the difficulties faced in the implementation of the two schemes in the 6th Schedule areas and called upon everyone for speedy and quality implementation in those areas. On the occasion, Shekhawat felicitated the State of Sikkim for its achievement as an ODF plus State and urged all the other NE states to emulate the Sikkim model in sanitation., stated a press release.

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