The additional proposals worth ₹ 13,090.88 crore cleared by the State government recently for providing tap connections in rural households under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) include 398 water supply schemes covering 522 grama panchayats.
Of the 398 schemes, 243 are new multi-village schemes while 26 are new proposals covering single villages, according to the order issued by the government. The list also has two mini solar-based water supply schemes and 127 revised proposals for the villages.
The State government had issued orders on February 23 clearing additional proposals under the Centrally assisted JJM for providing 11.51 lakh tap connections at a cost of ₹13,090.88 crore during the current fiscal. The government accorded administrative sanction for the proposals following a nod given by the State Water and Sanitation Mission Apex Committee.
Tough target
The schemes will be implemented by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), which is also the main implementation agency, and Jalanidhi. That said, the State has been struggling to meet targets under JJM. Although a total target of 29.38 lakh functional household tap connections (FHTC) was set for 2021-22, the State had fallen way short of it. Taking note of the fact, the Centre had directed the State to expedite the works so that the target of covering all rural households can be achieved by 2024.
Kerala has, in all, 70.68 lakh rural households, of which 27.8 lakh have tap connections as per the latest figures. The State has provided 10.8 lakh connections under JJM since April 2020, including 6.3 lakh connections given during 2021-22. To cover all rural households by 2024, the State needs to provide a little over 42.84 lakh connections more.
