Assam: 40 per cent of rural households in state now have access to piped water, claims Cabinet Minister

Assam government has succeeded in providing piped water to 40 per cent of households as compared to 1.11 per cent around two years back, Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah informed the Assembly on December 23.

Baruah further maintained that his Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has geared up for achieving cent per cent household coverage in rural areas by 2024 under the Centre's flagship Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

Replying to a cut motion brought by the Opposition against supplementary demand for grants for PHED, the Minister asserted that the department has been successfully meeting annual targets of household coverage in the last two years and is confident of fulfilling the 2024 deadline set for the completion of the mission. 
 
“We achieved the target of providing piped water connection to 27 lakh household last year. This year, our aim is 28 lakh households and a total of 65.67 lakh households will be covered under it,'' Baruah added.

Replying to the opposition's criticism over the low implementation of JJM in Assam compared to several other states, the Minister said, '' Initially 1.11 per cent households had water connection. In two years, we have moved to 40 per cent''. 

He further clarified that the states like Telangana and Goa, about who the opposition is speaking, had started from 50 to 70 per cent existing coverage, and hence, they could achieve 100 per cent coverage sooner.

Baruah further admitted that there are problems in some projects under the mission at times, however, his department is working overtime to overcome these problems.

He further said that for the smooth functioning of the water supply schemes ‘Jal Mitras’ will be appointed for each of the 25,000 such schemes against a monthly honorarium of Rs 6,500.

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