All rural households will have tap water in by 2024: Vini Mahajan

Centre supporting states to achieve the target, says secretary in the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti

The central government is working with 13 states to ensure all rural households have tapped water by 2024, said Vini Mahajan, secretary in the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, in an interview with Raghav Aggarwal.

Here are edited excerpts from the email interview.

The Jal Shakti Ministry’s allocation has been raised by over 40 per cent in Budget 2023. Why such a boost?

The increased allocation reflects the Centre's commitment to increasing the ease of living of the people. The Centre has always been clear in its commitment to provide funds for the schemes implemented by the ministry.

The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) dashboard shows as of February this year, 57 per cent of targeted households have tap water. With less than 12 months remaining, will the ministry be able to meet the deadline?

We are handholding the state governments and assisting them in implementation, technical support and approvals for the pipelines. We are particularly going into detail in thirteen states where 95 per cent of the residual connections are located. We are confident of connecting 100 per cent of rural households with tap water connections by the targeted timeframe.

What is the ministry doing to ensure quality tap water?

The Centre has set up more than 2,000 labs across the country for water-quality testing and more than half of these are NABL-accredited. We have been training women in villages in using field-testing kits to ensure there is no arsenic, fluoride, or bacterial contamination of sources of water.

Also, the village water and sanitation committee is to oversee implementation as well as operation and maintenance, for which it can levy user charges. The 15th Finance Commission has earmarked 60 per cent of the rural local body grants for water and sanitation.

For larger multi-village schemes, states are building operations and maintenance into the project itself so that the agency doing the work knows it is responsible and must ensure quality. We are also highlighting and rewarding exemplary work in ensuring water quality, like the 'Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman' awards on March 4.

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) has used 60 per cent of the 2022-23 allocation. What is the reason behind the underutilisation?

Water is a state subject, and it is the states that have to implement the schemes. We are supporting the states in various ways, including providing funds as per the states' requirements and in step with utilisation.

What are you aiming to achieve this year?

We are striving to achieve the aims of the two schemes: SBM 2.0 (Swachh Bharat Mission) and JJM. Over 1.9 lakh villages in the country have achieved Open Defecation Free-Plus (ODF+) status so far and we will attempt to double the number this year. The aim is to ensure all villages can declare themselves ODF+ by 2024-end. Similarly, the JJM aims to connect all rural households with clean tap water by 2024. We will get closer to achieving this aim.