Assam: Jal Jeevan Mission providing drinking water to 36 lakh households till date: Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah

Assam Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah on his completion of one year at his office highlighted the achievements of the Functional Household Tap Connections under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Assam.

Addressing the presser, Jayanta Mallabaruah said, "Under the guidance of Prime Minister Modi, the state of Assam has crossed 50 per cent of work under Jal Jeevan Mission."

The minister added that by 2024 the entire mission will be completed with the involvement of the community.

The Assam Minister also expressed his views that the state of Assam had struggled with the progress of FHTCs initially, however, over the period of last couple of years, the state has been able to cope with the expected progress.

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It is worth mentioning that ever since independence, households of Assam had only 1.64 per cent of tap water connections, but in the last few years the proportion skyrocketed to 50.25 per cent after Prime Minister Modi initiated the Jal Jeevan Mission in August 2019.

"On August 17, 2019, the state government could provide drinking water to only 1. 64 per cent but in the last 3 and half years the government has covered 50.25 per cent of the JMM," the minister added.

Going a step ahead in achieving the 100 per cent milestone under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the state government is now mulling introducing a social media campaign- 'Photographic, reels and shorts competition' starting from June 10 till July 31.

The first three winners of each district will carry a cash prize of Rs 10,000, Rs 7,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively which will be rewarded on August 15, 2023.

Under the state government's 'Amar Aalohi Scheme,' the government has decided to help rural people gain more visibility through proper marketing channels.

For this, the government has asked to come up with Self Help Groups (SHGs) and co-operatives of at least 10 members to promote their regions' homestays and will be provided subsidy upto Rs 10 lakh in operational and marketing subsidy.

The SHG or the cooperative group will be provided every year with Rs 5 lakh for the next 5 years for the operational and marketing subsidy.

The pilot project will be initiated in Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong and Goalpara.

Under the Skill and Development department, the global engineering and product development digital services firm Tata Technologies Ltd entered into a collaboration with the Assam government to transform 34 state polytechnics and 43 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) into futuristic Centres of Excellence (CoEs) entailing an investment of about Rs 2,390 crore.

Following this 6 ITIs and state polytechnics, three each will be inaugurated in September 2023 for the new academic session.

The ITIs will come up in Tinsukia, Kajalgaon and the polytechnic will be set up at Sonitpur, Nalbari and Lakhimpur with both short (3 months) and long-term (1-2 years) courses.

Speaking on the 'SagarMala' project in which 6-7 temples will be connected via the waterways in which ferry services will be provided every 2 hours will also be a reality in the coming 1-2 years of time.