New Delhi: The Centre, after a mid-term review of the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission in Tamil Nadu, has highlighted the need for analysing the existing piped water supply schemes in 1,576 villages where not a single connection has been provided, the Jal Shakti Ministry said on Saturday.
Tamil Nadu is planning 100 per cent tap water connections to all rural households by 2022-23. The state has around 126.89 lakh rural households, out of which 98.96 lakh households have not been provided with tap water connection.
In 2020-21, the state is planning to enable 33.94 lakh households with tap water connections.
“The mid-term review highlighted the need for analysing the existing piped water supply schemes in 1,576 villages, where not a single connection has been provided,” the Jal Shakti Ministry said in a statement.
Tamil Nadu has planned to provide safe drinking water to the remaining 236 fluoride affected habitations with a population of 1.18 lakh by December.
The state has 22.57 lakh households vulnerable to Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and only 4.07 lakh households have been provided with tap connection, the ministry said.
The state was urged to pay undivided attention for universal coverage of aspirational districts, SC/ST dominated villages and villages under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY), the ministry added.
It added that in 2020-21, the Centre has allocated Rs 921.99 crore to Tamil Nadu under the Jal Jeevan Mission and the state already has an unspent balance of Rs 264.09 crore, it added.
The state was urged to speed up the implementation and utilise the available funds to avail the allocated funds to avoid losing the central grants.
Fifty per cent of the 15th Finance Commission Grants to the Panchayati Raj Institutions is to be spent on water and sanitation. Tamil Nadu has been allocated Rs 3,607 crore as Finance Commission Grants in 2020-21, 50 per cent of which i.e. Rs 1,803.5 crore is tied grant for water and sanitation.
The Jal Jeevan Mission, a flagship initiative of the Modi government, aims to provide piped water to all rural households by 2024. Of all the states, Goa is the only one so far to provide piped drinking water to all rural households.