Himachal Pradesh continues to excel in the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). It has once again got the top ranking in drinking water quality at the national level.

Jal Shakti Minister, Mahender Singh Thakur here on Saturday said, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat would present the national award to Himachal Pradesh on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti and Swachh Bharat Diwas on Sunday at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

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Thakur said, “Himachal has consistently done excellent work in JJM. During a comprehensive survey of tap functionality, the state had once again been ranked first in the country in the quality of drinking water service delivery. Last year also, the state had secured first position in water quality and tap functionality in a similar comprehensive survey.”

He informed that the state was continuously getting full financial support from the Central government for the implementation of JJM.

“The Central government had made a financial provision of Rs 1,344.94 crore to the state this year and had released its second instalment of Rs 336.23 crore on September 30,” he said, adding that the Central and state governments had so far provided a total amount of Rs 3820.61 crore under the JJM.

The Central government had also released an incentive amount of Rs 1028.43 crore to the state during three years, he added.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Singh said the PM had always shown benevolence towards a small hilly state like Himachal Pradesh and had praised the state government on many occasions for its excellent work in JJM.

The Minister informed that water connections had been provided to all the households of 15,300 villages of 2551 Panchayats in 21 blocks of four districts of the state.

About 96 per cent households in the state had been provided with functional taps so far, he added. Thakur said besides providing taps to every household, works on many big drinking water schemes had been started in remote areas of the state and old schemes were being renovated under the JJM.

He said in order to bring transparency in the testing of water quality, all the laboratories had been opened to the general public at the lowest rates. Field test kits have been provided to each village and five women of each village are being trained to test drinking water, he added.