J-K gearing up to provide piped water to all households by 2022

The Governor's administration has envisaged connecting each and every household of Jammu and Kashmir with piped water supply by 2022 for ensuring water security to its population, an official said on Tuesday.

The state has around 30 per cent piped water connectivity which is much above the national average of 18 per cent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a massive programme namely 'Jal Jeevan Mission' to achieve the target in the country by 2024 with an aim to provide 'Har Ghar Nal Se Jal.

The spokesman said commissioner secretary to government, Public Health Engineering (PHE) and Irrigation and Flood Control (IFC), A K Sahu, held a meeting here on Tuesday to review the preparedness of Jammu region.

Sahu, addressing the meeting, said the state government has already provided Rs 716 crore under languishing projects, Rs 111 crore under NABARD and Rs 21 crore under state Capex with total amount of Rs 848 crore for water supply schemes in the districts of Jammu.

Besides, around Rs 150 Crore is expected to be provided under Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Jal Jeevan Mission taking total allocation this year to around Rs 1000 crore.

Similar allocation for Kashmir division has also been made taking overall allocation to more than Rs 2000 crore for Jammu and Kashmir, he said, adding separate allocation has been made to Ladakh.

"This has been unprecedented allocation so far in the PHE sector and has been done with a view to achieve the target of 100 per cent piped water coverage in a time bound manner at faster pace," he added.

The PHE department has recently conducted a detailed exercise for preparing district water security plan through the district water and sanitation mission headed by the concerned Deputy Commissioner.

This exercise has been conducted to find out the current coverage of piped water connection in districts and assess the funding requirements, the spokesman said.