Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday has written to the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and complimented him for taking steps to provide tap connections to all rural households by March, 2020.

He further thanked the Chief Minister for showing his commitment towards the ethos of Jal Jeevan Mission.

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In the letter, the Union Minister expressed optimism that the State will not only provide remaining households with tap connections, but potable water service delivery in an adequate quantity of prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis will be ensured to all households as envisaged under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

He stressed that funds to the State is provided by Government of India based on output in terms of number of FHTCs provided and utilization of funds. To that effect in 2019-20, Punjab was allocated and provided Rs. 227.46 Crore as Central share, out of which the State could utilize only Rs. 73.27 Crore. With opening balance of Rs. 257 Crore along with allocation of Rs. 362.79 Crore in 2020-21, Punjab has assured availability of Rs. 619.89 Crore Central fund. With State’s matching share, Rs. 1,239.78 Crore will be available under Jal Jeevan Mission to provide tap connections to families in rural areas of Punjab in 2020-21.

Union Minister requested the State to expedite the planning and implementation, in order to ensure that every household is provided with tap connections by March, 2022. He impressed upon the CM to focus on retrofitting/ augmentation of existing water supply systems in villages to provide household tap connections to the remaining households, mostly belonging to poorer section of the society. He urged the CM to provide remaining households with tap connections in next 4–6 months in a ‘campaign mode’ to provide 14 lakh tap connections by taking up augmentation and retrofitting of such schemes and these villages can become ‘Har Ghar Jal Gaon’.  While planning, priority should be given on saturating villages in water scarce areas and aspirational districts, & villages covered under Sansad Adarsh Gramin Yojana.