Shillong, Nov 3: Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat participated in a discussion on “Space Applications in Flood Management in the North Eastern Region” at North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), Umiam, on Thursday.
The minister is on a two-day visit to Meghalaya to review development work of his ministry.
Shekhawat said that the aim is to make maximum use of modern science and technology to come up with a workable solution to the age-old problem of floods in the Northeast region.
The minister said the discussions revolved around technological intervention to expedite the development activities.
Later, the minister attended a review meeting of different schemes of the Centre such as Jal Jeevan Mission, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana-Har Kher Ko Pani, Springshed Development Project for Rejuvenation of Springs for Climate Resilient Development in Meghalaya and others. The state government also apprised the minister of the initiatives of the government for conservation of land and water that are being implemented in the state through community participation projects under Meghalaya Basin Development Authority, ADB funded Climate Adaptive Community Based Water Harvesting Project among others.
Briefing the pressmen after the review meeting, the minister said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission,’ from the parapets of Red Fort on August 15, 2019. The ‘Har Ghar Jal’ project is a part of the mission, which aims to provide regular drinkable tap water in sufficient quantity and quality to each and every rural household in India by 2024.
The minister informed that out of the targeted 19.15 crore rural homes in India, 10.44 crore, or more than 54 percent, currently have tap water connections. The national jump during these years has been 36 per cent. While comparing the coverage of JJM in Meghalaya with the national achievement, the minister said that at the time when the scheme was launched, the state had less than 1 per cent coverage of tap water connected rural households. During these years, the minister said Meghalaya has made remarkable progress and has been able to achieve 41.5 percent of tap water connections.
The minister further added that while the national jump was 36 per cent, Meghalaya could make a jump of around 41 per cent. He added, “Today we have again reviewed in details how the challenges and bottlenecks in achieving 100 per cent coverage in the state could be addressed. Out of the 6.30 lakh households, tap connections have been made in 2.61 lakh households.
