Jal Jeevan Mission in Assam

Access to readily available potable safe water for drinking, domestic use and food processing is vital for public health safety and prevention of water-borne diseases. Assam lagging far behind most states in India in implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission has left the alarm bell on public health ticking. To date, Assam has provided tap water connections to only 17.49 per cent of rural households. Of the total 63.35 lakh rural households in the state, 11.08 lakh households have tap water connections and the vast majority have no access to readily available potable safe water within their premises. Among all states and union territories, Assam ranks 28th in implementation of the JJM, a flagship programme of the Central government of providing functional tap water connection to every rural household by 2024. All other states in the Northeast region are also ahead of Assam which is indicative of critical gaps in JJM implementation in the state. Assam has provided 9.96 lakh rural households tap connection over the past two years since the launch of the mission on August 15, 2019, which calculates to 15.73 per cent of the total rural households in the state. Unless the scheme implementation gets a major push, providing tap water supply to 100 per cent of rural households over the next three years appears to be a Herculean task for the State government. Goa, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry and Dadra Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu have already provided 100 per cent of their targeted households with tap water supply. A closer look at the data reveals that apart from these five states and Union Territories, other states with a higher percentage of achievement under JJM had provided tap water connection to a significant percentage of rural households at the time of the launch of the mission. Bihar, for instance, already had 85.31 per cent (146.91 lakh households) of its 172.20 lakh rural households with tap water supply in 2019 which has increased to 87.15 (150.07 lakh households) over the past two years. Assam had only 1.76 per cent of targeted households with the tap water supply at the time of launch of JJM which speaks volumes about the poor performance and failure of the previous governments in the state in providing tap water supply to rural households. Paradoxically, the state has abundant surface water, groundwater is way behind most states which are not blessed with such natural abundance. Comparison of the achievements in the pre and post-JJM periods presents an improved scenario of a faster pace of implementation. There is, however, no room for complacency as more than 80 per cent of rural households are yet to be covered in the state and are susceptible to water-borne diseases. District-wise data on the JJM dashboard shows that Majuli has covered the highest percentage of 58.60 per cent of its households. Performance of most districts under three councils under Sixth Schedule- Bodoland Territorial Council, KarbiAnglong Autonomous Council and Dima Hasao Autonomous Council- have quite low coverage. West Karbi Anglong district accounts for the lowest percentage of only 5.04 per cent households (2688 of total 52,872 households) having tap water supply till date followed by Dima Hasao with 5.74 per cent. The JJM guidelines require testing of every source of water for chemical parameters once and for bacteriological presence twice in a year during pre and post-monsoon periods to ensure that the quality of water being supplies is safe for drinking and use in food processing. Detection of arsenic and fluoride in many habitations of the state makes it mandatory on the part of the state to strengthen accredited public laboratories to ensure timely and regular monitoring of water quality in all habitations. In its Annual Action Plan (AAP) for JJM, Assam plans to provide 20.63 lakh household tap water connections and saturation of two districts in the current financial year which means it has to cover 16.14 lakh households over the next seven months. Achieving the target is critical to meeting the national target 2024 for 100 per cent coverage of rural households but will require building capacity of the Public Health Engineering Department and other stakeholders. This calls for expediting the recruitment of 188 vacancies of technical officers under the mission in the state. The AAP also includes skill training of 4,000 masons and plumbers in the current year which indicates the potential of employment avenues of skilled workforce during the entire Mission period and also a subsequent period for repair and maintenance of huge water pipe network and associated assets. Observation of World Water Week ending on August 27 is a reminder for all stakeholders of JJM in Assam to undertake a comprehensive review of the progress made, goals set for the current year and for the remaining mission period to undertake necessary course correction so that deadlines are not missed.