Excel the pace
The two main issues that have still been left unresolved in most rural and even major townships across Jammu and Kashmir are providing safe drinking water to the people and helping them achieve a good network of roads.
Jammu and Kashmir has abundant water resources. And most of it is pure in form as the origin of this water is glaciers and snow. However, most of the far off regions in this part of the world are not getting potable drinking water, making the lives of commoners miserable.
Even during peak winters this year water had become scarce in city areas as well. Despite the past governments promising potable water to all the households the claims remained confined to papers only. Even in remote Kandi and hilly areas of Kashmir region people have to walk several kilometers daily to get potable water for their daily use.
Though the administration has accorded sanction to the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and roadmap to achieve 100 percent coverage of piped water supply by December 2021 across Jammu & Kashmir aligning it to the National Mission of Jal Jeevan, but the deadline has been extended now.
The objective of the mission is to provide Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) to every rural household with priority to desert/drought prone and border areas, schools, anganwadi and health centres etc. Under the mission, sustainability of water supply system shall be ensured besides empowerment and development of human resource in the sector so as to meet the demands of construction, plumbing, water quality management and other purposes.
Under the National Jal Jeevan Mission, every rural household of the country will be connected with piped water supply by 2024. At present, 30.5% of J&K’s rural households have piped water connections compared to the national average of 18%. Special focus will be laid under the mission to provide FHTC to remaining 11.12 lakh rural households out of 16.02 lakh in J&K as per Integrated Management of Information System (IMIS) data of JJM.
To achieve 100 percent coverage under JJM in a phased manner, the PHE Department has carried out a detailed exercise to prepare District Water Security Plan through the District Water and Sanitation Mission headed by the concerned Deputy Commissioners.
In the initial phase, seven districts Poonch, Reasi, Samba, Srinagar, Ganderbal, Shopian and Pulwama will be covered for 100% piped water supply by the end of last year. Though some grey patches remain it is in the second phase that seven more districts will be covered and the remaining six districts shall be covered in the third phase ending December 2021.
The idea seems great but since we are in the habit of witnessing delay in execution of works and meeting deadlines, the government should ensure that the timeliness on this crucial project are adhered to.
Providing piped water to every household is a dream project and it is achievable in most of the regions in Jammu and Kashmir given the abundance of clean water resources present in good numbers.
