Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday directed the officials to increase the number of water connections to 50,000 every day and complete the Jal Jeevan Mission by March 2024 as set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While reviewing the progress of Jal Jeevan Mission and Namami Gange project in a high-level meeting, the CM called for intensifying efforts to provide tap water to every household while giving necessary guidelines.
He said, “Since April 2022, 22,714 tap connections were being installed every month in the state, which reached 12.96 lakh connections every month in May 2023. Currently 43,000 tap connections are being installed every day, which needs to be increased to 50,000 daily. The PM has set a target completing the Jal Jeevan Mission by March 2024 so as to ensure provision of tap water to every house by this time at any rate.”
Yogi said that with the resolution of ‘Har Ghar Nal-Har Ghar Jal’, a grand campaign is going on to provide pure drinking water to 2.65 crore rural families of the state. “Before the start of Jal Jeevan Mission, only 5.16 lakh families had access to pure drinking water from the tap. Due to continuous efforts, today the dream of pure drinking water has come true for more than 1.30 crore families,” he said.
He said, “A total of 59.38 lakh connections have been provided in the financial year 2022-23 alone. Remaining houses should also get piped drinking water in a phased and time-bound manner.”
The CM said that the Jal Jeevan Mission is on the priority of the Prime Minister. “Its implementation is being continuously reviewed by the central government. It is heartening that three districts, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Jalaun and Shahjahanpur in the achiever category in the June 2023 survey are from UP. Mainpuri and Auraiya have got the top two positions in the performers category, while Azamgarh has topped in the aspirants category. Similar efforts should be made in all the districts,” he said.
He said that the success of national schemes like Jal Jeevan Mission, which make life easier for the common man, depends on the performance of UP. “UP is a big state so our responsibility is also big. There is no dearth of funds for Jal Jeevan Mission. Manpower should be increased as per the requirement. Trained plumbers should be posted in every village. There should be no unnecessary delay in this,” he said.
Yogi said that pure drinking water was a dream for the Bundelkhand and Vindhya region. “Today this dream is coming true. Both these areas are on top priority. With continuous efforts, Mahoba is going to become the first district in the state, where every house will have a tap water facility. Achieve the target of providing tap water connection to every house in Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Banda, Chitrakoot, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra and the whole of Vindhya-Bundelkhand region in the next two months,” he directed.
He said that out of 98,445 villages in the state, work is in progress in 91,919 villages. “Complete the work in all the villages within the time limit. The process of approval of SLSSC for 6,800 villages for which DPR is ready, should be completed as soon as possible in each case,” he said.
The CM said that rain water harvesting should be encouraged in the villages. “This can become a good model of water harvesting for the country,” he said.
He said that there should be no unnecessary delay in providing electricity connection in order to supply piped drinking water into the Vindhya-Bundelkhand region. “Namami Gange department and Energy department should complete this work in time with mutual coordination,” he said.
Yogi said that reservoirs have a major role in water supply in Bundelkhand. “There is a problem of silt in them. Action should be taken to desilt the reservoirs by the Irrigation and Water Resources Department,” he said.
He said that 100 percent saturated villages should be verified with transparency through the Jal Jeevan Mission. “If even a single consumer is dissatisfied, their expectations should be met. We have to further strengthen the system of on-site inspection. There should be complete cleanliness and transparency in the procedure. Along with water supply, ensuring good quality of water is of paramount importance,” he said.
The CM said that special efforts are being made under the Jal Jeevan Mission for improvement of water quality affected areas due to Arsenic, Fluoride, Salinity, Nitrate and Iron. “Additional financial assistance is being provided by the central government in this regard. Work in these areas needs to be expedited,” he said.
He said that good results have been seen in the ongoing Namami Gange project in mission mode for the cleanliness of Ganga and its tributaries. “There are 27 Ganga districts and 37 Ganga towns in the total 1,027 km of Ganga river flow in the state. In the past, there was a polluted stretch of 550 km from Kannauj to Varanasi which came under priority 4 in terms of quality. Due to improvement in the water quality of this section, it has come under priority 5 from November 2022. Now we have to pay special attention to Farrukhabad to Prayagraj and Mirzapur to Ghazipur sections,” he said.
Yogi said that UP Jal Nigam (Urban) needs to increase the utilisation capacity of under utilised 120 million litre per day (MLD) Goitha Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Varanasi. “The approved 55 MLD capacity STP scheme should be completed as soon as possible for tapping the eighty nala over-pulls. Similarly, complete the upgradation of 01 non-compliant STP in Varanasi in a time-bound manner with the help of Railways,” he said.
He said that Baniapur STP under UP Jal Nigam (Urban) should be made operational in Kanpur. “Make 4 non compliant STPs functional immediately. Similarly, for the treatment of tannery effluent at Jajmau, the efficiency of CETP of 36 MLD capacity is expected to be improved,” he said.
The CM said that strict compliance with the standard of emitted effluent should be ensured by the UP Pollution Control Board, closely monitoring the tannery and other industrial effluents. “Keep all the STPs installed in the state functional. Non-compliant or non-functional STPs should be made operational immediately,” he said.
He said, “Cleanliness of rivers is not possible without public cooperation. People should be made aware for this. They should be motivated to cremate or bury bodies instead of floating them into the rivers.”
