Arunachal ranks first among NE states in implementing the JJM scheme

ITANAGAR-    Arunachal Pradesh has become the first state in the North East to achieve this remarkable feat and is the 10th in the country.

“When intentions are honest, achievements are guaranteed,” said Chief Minister Pema Khandu while congratulating the state Department of Public Health Engineering (PHED) on achieving the stupendous milestone of hundred percent saturation in implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) program launched by the central government in 2019.

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Attending a celebration to mark the achievement here today, Khandu hailed the departmental engineers and workers including the village water and sanitation committees for walking the extra mile in taking potable water supply connections across the length and breadth of the state in four years, a year ahead of the national target.

“Considering the vast geographical area, difficult terrains and sparsely populated remote villages, this is a no mean feat. As chief minister of the state I hold my head high with pride,” he said.

When JJM was launched by the Prime Minister in 2019, Khandu revealed that only 20989 households in the state had Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) and today, after successful execution of the mission, 2.9 lakh households have FHTC.

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He, however, informed that this wouldn’t have been possible if the state depended only on the centrally sponsored JJM. He said that every central government program and scheme comes with its own rules, guidelines and eligibility criteria.

“Many of our villages in remote areas couldn’t qualify for water supply facility under JJM. Therefore, not to leave these villages bereft of this basic and essential service we launched our own Arunachal Jal Sankalp Yojna (AJSY),” he informed.

Khandu said that implementing the AJSY along with JJM resulted in hundred percent potable tap water connection to each household.

“From our own resources we spent about Rs 590.80 crores under AJSY covering 20989 households that did not come under JJM,” he informed.

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Citing few more big water supply projects nearing completion, Khandu asked the department to complete all such projects while revealing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to visit Itanagar on March 9, will be virtually dedicating these to the people.

Talking about big water treatment and supply projects, the Chief Minister suggested plan and design in a manner that these could be also utilized for tourism purposes.

“Chowkham water supply project is one example, which besides supplying potable water to the people is also earning revenue from visitors because of its ambience and facilities,” he said and informed that similar projects will come up soon at Basar, Namsai, Bomdila, Daporijo and Tezu.

The largest such project though, Khandu informed, will be developed in the state capital region under the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) at a value of more than Rs 300 crore.

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Acknowledging the water scarcity challenge, particularly in Tirap, Changalng and Longding districts, Khandu said that the government is alive to it and putting in a place a long time roadmap to mitigate it through the recently passed Arunachal Pradesh Protection for Drinking Water Catchment Area Act 2023.

As a part of the celebration, awards were given away to the first district achieving saturation, three best-performing districts, top-performing divisions, best performing Village Water and Sanitation Committees, Jal Shaktis and more.

Present on the occasion were Speaker PD Sona, MP (RS) Nabam Rebia, PHED Minister Wangki Lowang, cabinet ministers, MLAs and others.