Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday expressed satisfaction over the progress of implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Meghalaya.
Calling the approach of the state as ‘holistic’ , the Union Minister said, so far the JJM coverage in the state is 41.5 percent.
“At the time of inception, Meghalaya was a poor performing state which had JJM coverage of less than 1 percent which is 0 .75 percent from there, today Meghalaya, while showing incredible performance, has reached 41.5 percent coverage,” Shekhawat said.
Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday reviewed the implementation of the Central Schemes under the Ministry of Jal Shakti in Shillong. Chief Minister Conrad Sangma was also present in the meeting.
Stating that the National growth rate is only 36 percent, the Union Minister appreciated the state government for having 41 percent growth rate.
“Today once again we have reviewed the challenges, the bottleneck and the issues, how can we help in the growth,” he said while maintaining that with regard to the global crises, there was rise in the prices of pipes which has hampered the progress of the work of JJM.
The Union Minister also mentioned about Meghalaya receiving the performance incentives from the centre as he hoped in the future as well, the state will continue to do so.
About the JJM coverage, Shekhawat said, “ The tap water has reached in 2.61 lakh households out of 6.30 lakh household where the drinking water must reach under JJM and in remaining 2.81 lakh household the work is under progress and it’s in different stages and in no time it will reach out to the people.”
He further added, “ Around 50-60 thousand houses are such for whose connection the tender process is yet to start as the approvals are still pending. After the review meeting we have instructed the officers to start the process. “
For the nation, Prime Minister has kept the 2024 target but Meghalaya is going to start it before the National target, the Minister informed.