Manipur CM assures centre on Jal Jeevan Mission progress

The Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren Singh has said that the state would achieve 100% piped water connections to every household by 2022 much before the deadline set by the Union government.

The Chief Minister also attended a Video conferencing with the Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Shekawat where he gave details of the progress made by the state government on the mission.

According to the data only 0.32 lakh households are provided with tapped water connection out of 4.51 lakh households which accounts for a meagre 7 %. The State has set a target of providing 2 lakh households with connections in 2020-2021. Currently, the government is working to provide 100% of the households with connections across 1 village, 15 blocks and 1,275 villages.

The Union government has allocated Rs. 131.80 crore for the state in 2020-2021 and with assured availability of funds worth Rs. 216.2 crore. The Union government also awards states additional funds on base of performance throughout the year.

The 15^th Finance Commission Grants has granted Rs.177 crore to the state and 50% of the funds have to be utilised on activities like sanitisation and water supply.

The Union government has also urged the participation of village administration in the mission to make the progress even faster. This is the message that the Union Government has been relaying to all North Eastern states to increase public participation. Arunachal Pradesh is an excellent example of how the participation of village administration ensured that the progress of the mission was not halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Manipur government must employ these tactics and also ensure that it spends its entire allocated budget which many states have been unable to do which makes the progress of the mission difficult.