Ranchi: The Jal Jeevan Mission has been envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through tap connections to all the households of rural Jharkhand by the year 2024.
Under this, groundwater management, water conservation, and rainwater harvesting will be implemented for the reuse of water. In the pursuit to achieve this set target to cover 59,23,320 rural households and to provide them with functional tap connections by the end of Jal Jeevan Mission year 2024, the State Government has covered 20 percent of households in the last two and a half years despite the COVID pandemic.
Under this mission, access to water has been ensured to 11,82,692 rural households till May 25, 2022. Out of the total 29,657 villages in the state, 965 have become Har Ghar Jal village, and work is in progress in 12,083 villages, while plans have been either approved or DPRs have been prepared for the remaining 16,708 villages in the near future.
Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, a three-fold increase has been registered in providing tap water to the homes of those in need after 2019. 59,23,320 rural households in the state have been targeted for the supply of water through tap connections. If one would consider the situation in 2019, the total houses with tap connections were 3,45,165, while in May 2022 their number increased to 11,83,632. The total tap connections which were provided after the launch of the Mission are 8,38,467.
Under this Mission the maximum number of connections were of Bokaro households 89,901, followed by Dhanbad 66,669 and in East Singhbhum 56,702 households have access to pure drinking water through taps. Water tap connections have been set up in 41,408 Government schools, 7,450 Schools and 1,758 Anganwadi centers of the state.
The Jeevan Mission is based on a community approach to water and incorporates comprehensive information, education and communication as a key component of the Mission. The State Government aspires to make the Jal Jeevan Mission a mass movement so that it becomes everyone’s priority.