7 J&K districts to get water connection by June 2020, rest by December 2021

Every household in seven out of the total 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir will get a water connection by June 2020, a senior official said on Wednesday.

He also said there will be 100 per cent piped water supply to all the households in the 20 districts of the union territory by December 2021, against the national target of 2024.

During a one-day workshop on the implementation of the ambitious 'Jal Jeevan' mission in the union territory here on Tuesday, Commissioner Secretary, Public Health Engineering, Ajeet Kumar Sahu said a three-phased strategy has been devised to achieve objectives under this initiative with Phase I to be completed by June 2020.

The seven districts -- Srinagar, Ganderbal, Shopian, Pulwama, Reasi, Poonch and Samba -- and 52 additional blocks from other districts would be taken up for providing tap water connections to all the households, he said.

"To achieve the outlined objective, a detailed action plan has been prepared by the department. Phase I is already under implementation while other phases are under preparation," Sahu said.

Detailed deliberations regarding the implementation strategy of JJM in the union territory were held during the workshop which was also attended by Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, Bharat Lal and Deputy Secretary Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India, Manoj Kumar, an official spokesperson said.

The chief secretary requested for Centre's continued support so that JJM can be made a success in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

Lal, who is also the Jal Jeevan Mission Director, asked the PHE department officials to increase the pace of work and ensure geo-tagging of the created assets to review their progress in real-time.

With 30.5 per cent tap water coverage, Jammu and Kashmir ranks 12th at the national level.