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Lucknow, 17 February (HS). Vini Mahajan, Secretary, Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, said here on Saturday that there is no shortage of budget under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). Even in the interim budget, adequate budget has been provisioned for the implementation of the scheme. According to the revised estimate, we have Rs 70 thousand crores. States can get it on first come and first serve basis.
Mahajan assured the states that they should use their budget, send proposals for the next one and take the money. He said that there is no problem of funds in the implementation of the scheme. She was addressing the states after the discussion on the second day of the Joint National Conference of Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission, i.e. on Saturday.
Central Government Secretary Mahajan said that we are also considering launching the second phase of JJM to meet the further needs, but till now we have not been able to take a definite decision in this regard. Our focus is to maintain continuity of water supply. The quality of water should be good. Only with better quality can we maintain the significance of this scheme, because this project was brought with the vision that people should get clean water, so that people can be protected from any kind of water-borne disease.
Mahajan asked all the states to ensure that no one faces water shortage in summer. On this occasion, Principal Secretary of Namami Gange Department of Uttar Pradesh Government, Anurag Srivastava, MD of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam Rural, Dr. Balkar Singh and many officials of Central and various state governments were present.
Dr Chandrabhushan Kumar, Director of Central Jal Jeevan Mission, said that apart from providing water connection to every household, the management and operation of the project has special importance. For this there is a need to strengthen rural committees. Villagers should be trained. Apart from this, they should also be explained the importance of water. He shared a case study of New York's water supply.
Dr. Kumar said that we need to pay attention to water sources. He said the Skill Development Ministry is training the manpower used in supplying tap water to the people. We should get more and more people trained. These will be important in the continuity of the project.
States shared their experiences-
On the second day of the conference, representatives from different states shared their experiences. Manish Ranjan, who came from Jharkhand, said that there are about 29 thousand villages in the state. A campaign is being run for water testing in the village. About 28,600 villages of the state have been connected with this. Apart from this, efforts are also being made to resolve water related complaints in the shortest possible time.
Rajasekhar, representing Andhra Pradesh, spoke on sustainability of the mission and water management. He told how a policy has been made for this in the state and work is being done under it.
Ejaz Hussain from Karnataka gave information about the work being done in the state. In this episode, Nalini and other water policymakers shared their views on the implementation of the scheme. AK Singh of Himachal Pradesh spoke on the campaigns being run towards cleanliness and the future strategies.
Water policymakers from different states spoke on various aspects to bring transparency in the Jal Jeevan Mission programme. He talked about taking feedback, resolving water related complaints and the role of media and social media on the project.
Five sessions were held
A total of five sessions were held on the second day of the conference. There was also a session on operation and management of the project. Apart from this, in other sessions, training to make people skilled, taking feedback and solving problems, experiences of states etc. were discussed in detail.