Under Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission, Rs.15,381.72 crore worth of drinking water supply projects were approved for Madhya Pradesh at the State-Level Scheme Sanctioning Committee (SLSSC) meeting. Twenty-two multi-village schemes were sanctioned to provide tap water connection to more than 1.09 crore rural population, according to an official statement.
The amount allocated will benefit 9,240 villages in Rewa, Satna, Sehore, Siddi, Alirajpur, Padwani, Jabalpur, Panna, Mandla, Sagar, Katni, Thar, Sheopur, Umaria and Garhgon districts. Madhya Pradesh plans to provide piped water supply to all rural households by 2023.
It is noteworthy that all these villages face drinking water problems in summer. More than 22 lakh households living in these 9,240 villages are expected to have adequate access to adequate clean tap drinking water supply for the next 30-40 years.
A state-level project approval committee has been set up to review and approve projects being undertaken to provide piped drinking water supply to rural households under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
In 2021-22, Rs 5,117 crore was earmarked for Madhya Pradesh, Rs 2,558 crore has already been released for the implementation of the scheme. This will greatly reduce the difficulty faced by women and children who travel several hours daily to fetch water from distant water sources.
When the Jal Jeevan Mission was launched on 15 August 2019, only 13.53 lakh (11%) rural households in Madhya Pradesh had piped water supply. In the last 28 months, the state has provided piped water connections to 31.63 lakh (25.8%) households despite the Covid-19 epidemic and general outbreak. To date, out of 1.22 crore rural households in the state, 45.16 lakh (36.93%) households have access to piped water. The state plans to provide piped drinking water connections to 22.1 lakh households by 2021-22.