The Centre has fixed September 30 this year as the deadline to award all pending works under the Har Ghar Jal scheme and is also launching a special campaign, Har Ghar Jal Utsav, from July 25 to “certify” 1.54 lakh villages in the country that have reported 100 per cent coverage under the scheme.
The government has the ambitious target of covering every rural household in the country with tap drinking water supply by 2024. The coverage as of date stands at about 51 per cent, against just 17 per cent when the campaign started in August 2019. Officials told News18 that the September 30 cut-off date has been fixed for approval of all pending works, their detailed project report (DPR) preparation, tendering and award of works for the time-bound completion of the Har Ghar Jal programme by 2024.
The Centre is enthused by the fact that despite the ensuing monsoon and severe floods in many states, 38.75 lakh tap water connections were provided in the first quarter of 2022-23 compared to 35.22 lakh connections given in the corresponding period of last year. The government is hoping that work starts in full swing now as the rainy season gets over.
New campaign
The Centre is also launching the Har Ghar Jal Utsav, from July 25 till August 12, in nearly 1.52 lakh villages that have reported full coverage under the scheme, but only about 11,000 of them have been certified so far. This campaign will look at bridging the gap between the reported and certified villages and prioritise the Har Ghar Jal certification, especially in those states where the coverage is significantly high, like Goa, Telangana, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Bihar, and Manipur. The Centre has been unhappy with the progress of certification and a campaign was hence planned.
Other roadblocks
States are also being pushed by the Centre to pursue clearances from central agencies such as the environment ministry, railways, NHAI, and GAIL for laying water pipelines as well as from state departments for the availability of land. At a conference last month, many states complained that they were facing difficulties in awarding and expediting works because of the rise in prices of raw materials, like water pipes, that had affected the pace of the Har Ghar Jal project.
The Centre has now amended guidelines to help in speedy implementation and prices of raw materials have stabilised. Big states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal are still struggling with the scheme and have recorded only 15%, 25%, and 28% coverage under it respectively so far, much less than the national average of 51%. Jharkhand is also at only 21% coverage. The Centre’s campaign is focussed on such states this year.
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