Drinking water supply schemes of Rs 164.03 crore were approved under Jal Jeevan Mission in Uttarakhand in the State-level scheme sanctioning committee (SLSSC) meeting held on 23 December 2021. All eight water supply schemes sanctioned are multi-village schemes. The scheme will provide direct tap water connections to more than 9,000 rural households. These schemes will benefit 140 villages in Almora, Bageshwar, Dehradun, Nainital and Uttarkashi districts.
Masi, Mangurkhal and Jhimar multi-village tap water supply schemes in Almora district will benefit about 20,000 people living in 68 villages. Shama and Baidamajhera multi-village tap water supply schemes in Bageshwar district will benefit about 18,000 people living in 38 villages. Basgaon Loshgyani multi-village tap water supply schemes will provide clean tap water to more than 3,000 people living in nine villages of Nainital district. Similarly, Kandari multi-village scheme in Uttarkashi and Motidhar Paniyala scheme in Dehradun will benefit more than 7,000 people living in 25 villages of these two districts.
In the last two months, drinking water supply schemes worth Rs. 714 crore for 58,500 homes in 846 villages spread across 11 districts of Uttarakhand benefitting more than 3 lakh people have been approved by the SLSSC.
As of date, out of 15.18 lakh, rural households in Uttarakhand, 7.43 lakh (49%) are getting tap water supply in their homes. In 2021-22, the state plans to provide tap water connections to 2.64 lakh households.
Under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), there is a provision for the constitution of the SLSSC for consideration and approval of schemes to be taken up for making provision of tap water supply to rural households. The SLSSC acts as a State-level Committee to consider water supply schemes/ projects, and a nominee of the National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM), Government of India is a member of the committee.
At the start of the mission in 2019, out of a total of 19.20 crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 crore (17%) had a tap water supply. During the last 27 months, despite Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns disruptions, Jal Jeevan Mission has been implemented with speed and today, 5.36 crore rural households have been provided with tap water connections. Presently, 8.60 crore (44.74%) rural households across the country have a tap water supply.