Shillong, Oct 2: On the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the President of India Droupadi Murmu on Sunday conferred an award to Meghalaya for being one of the Best Performing states in the implementation of JJM (Jal Jeevan Mission) in the country.
Minister of Public Health Engineering (PHE) Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar received the recognition on behalf of the Government of Meghalaya in the presence of Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India.
Meghalaya received an award from the Hon’ble @rashtrapatibhvn, Smti Droupadi Murmu Ji for its performance in Jal Jeevan Mission.
Award received by Hon’ble PHE Minister, @ReniktonLyngdoh in the presence of Union Minister, @gssjodhpur Ji
Congratulations Team JJM Meghalaya! pic.twitter.com/RcPBBq3vRr
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) October 2, 2022
Meghalaya was ranked 2nd in the category States/UTs in JMM implementation. In ‘Har Ghar Jal’ (HGJ) status, Meghalaya was ranked higher than Assam, J&K, Kerala, Manipur, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Goa, and other states. Meghalaya achieved HGJ status for 597 villages with close to 1500 villages achieving 100 % tap water coverage.
“Ensuring safe and adequate drinking water has been our Government’s foremost priority and also one of the most difficult challenges. At the initiation of the JMM in August 2019, only 4,500 of rural households had tapped water connectivity, whereas today over 2.53 lakhs households have tapped water connection, a whopping 55-fold increase in coverage. Moreover, 100% of households in nearly 1500 villages now have access to tap water, thereby saving them the drudgery of fetching water from far-off places in our hilly terrains. I dedicate this award to every official and staff member of the PHE Department who worked tirelessly to ensure tap water connectivity even in far flung villages of our state”, said Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya.
What makes the Meghalaya Government’s achievement in ensuring tap water connectivity in remote rural areas truly commendable is the fact that the implementation team had to confront with several odds like topographical challenges, scattered households in remote villages and other factors peculiar to this hilly state. The Government also made significant spends of around Rs. 1407 crores in 2022 as compared to just Rs. 27 crores in 2019; a 51 times increase in expenditure to expedite tap water connectivity in the state.
Furthermore, the Williamnagar Urban Water Supply Project Phase-I was also sanctioned recently at an estimated cost of around Rs. 122 crore. Other important projects, in the pipeline include Greater Shillong Water Supply Project, the Nongstoin Urban Water Supply Project, the Greater Rymbai Water Supply Project, and the Greater Ampati Water Supply project with a combined budget outlay of Rs. 593 crore.
“This award is indeed a great ratification of our relentless efforts in ensuring sustainable drinking water supply and improving the quality of lives of our people. But we have a long way to go and need to sustain this high momentum to achieve our vision of making Meghalaya one of the top 10 states in the country across key Human Development Index parameters,” added Sangma.
