Assam Performs Worst In Providing Tap Water To Rural Families

GUWAHATI: Under the Union government's Jal Jeevan Mission, Assam performs the worst among northeastern states in terms of providing tap water to rural families (JJM). Huge water resources are a blessing for the state. The state must speed up an installation if it hopes to fulfill the federal deadline of 100% coverage by 2024.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Union Jal Shakti Minister, said in the Lok Sabha on Thursday that just 41% of the 65.67 lakh rural Assamese families reported having access to tap water in their houses after three years of JJM. This includes 1.11 lakh (1.69%) homes that had tap water prior to the 2019 introduction of JJM.

Under JJM, it took three years to provide tap water to 26.05 lakh households in Assam, with an estimated 8.68 lakh of the objective being met each year. To reach its objective of providing tap water connections to the remaining 38.51 lakh households, the government will need to pick up the pace by exceeding 19 lakh targets each year for the following two years.

In response to a written inquiry from Kokrajhar MP Naba Kumar Sarania, Shekhawat stated that "so far, about 26.05 lakh (39%) rural homes (in Assam) have been given with tap water connections in the last three years." Shekhawat stated that as of December 12, approximately 27.16 lakh (41%) of Assam's 65.67 lakh rural households reported having access to tap water.

The programme is being carried out by the Union government in collaboration with the states to offer tap water to every rural family throughout the districts. Each household member should have access to 55 liters of drinkable water that has been treated.

Manipur has achieved the highest coverage in the northeast by providing tap water to 74.86% of rural households, according to data analyzed from the Jal Jeevan Mission - Har Ghar Jal portal on Thursday. Manipur is followed by Sikkim (73.86%) and Mizoram (71.59%) in terms of coverage. While Arunachal Pradesh has a coverage rate of 67.43%, Tripura and Nagaland have equivalent numbers of 55.83% and 55.60%, respectively. Assam still only has 41.52% of its households covered by tap water, lagging behind Meghalaya's 43.60% connection rate.

The goal of providing tap water to every rural home has already been met in Goa, Telangana, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Gujarat, and Haryana.

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