JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir Government on Thursday said that about 15.6 lakh households across the Union Territory have been provided functional tap water connections under the Centre’s “Jal Jeevan Mission”, while over 3.61 lakh households are yet to be covered.
In a written reply to a starred question tabled by CPI(M) MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, Minister in charge of the Jal Shakti Department, Javed Ahmad Rana said, out of a total of 19,25,535 households, tap water connections have been extended to over 81 per cent of them.
According to the district-wise data, Srinagar and Ganderbal districts, with 10,407 and 41,551 households, respectively, have achieved complete coverage in tap water connections, Rana said.
In Jammu district, 1,26,170 households out of 1,89,120 have been covered, leaving 62,950 households without tap connections, the highest in the Union Territory, the minister said.
He said Rajouri and Kathua districts have 90,853 and 1,04,372 households covered, respectively.
However, 44,759 households in Rajouri and 35,064 in Kathua are without tap water connection, Rana said.
The Government of India has launched “Jal Jeevan Mission” (JJM), for providing 100 per cent Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) in the country by 2024.
As many as 27,159 households in Kupwara are without tap water connections, followed by Doda with 26,757, Samba (23,648), Poonch (22,077), Udhampur (20,589), Baramulla (16,706), Kishtwar (13,893), Budgam (13,764), Ramban (12,088), Pulwama (11,530), Anantnag (9,399), Reasi (7,210), Kulgam (5,514), Bandipora (4,785) and Shopian (3,472), the minister said.
Responding to a separate query, Rana said all families in south Kashmir’s twin municipalities of Kulgam and Yaripora currently have water supply connections.
However, to augment the water supply, two schemes, one for Kulgam and another for Yaripora, are under execution at an estimated cost of Rs 5.75 Cr and Rs 3.74 Cr, respectively, under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0.
The projects are expected to benefit 6,421 households in Kulgam town and 1,142 households in Yaripora town by addressing low service levels.
Both schemes are likely to be completed in the financial year, 2026-27.
Speaking on the manpower, the minister said there is no acute shortage at the supervisory level and that engineering staff is being deployed optimally across Public Health Engineering divisions.
He said the department is formulating a comprehensive Operation and Maintenance policy for rural water supply infrastructure, which also includes manpower management, aimed at ensuring sustainable and efficient operation of water supply infrastructure in the long term. (PTI)