Pure drinking water can upgrade community health: Jayanta Mallabaruah
MoU signed to boost Jal Jeevan Mission
GUWAHATI: In order to ensure smooth implementation and functioning of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) schemes, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Monday between the Public Health Engineering Department (JJM ) and the Panchayat & Rural Development (Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM) to engage Self Help Groups and other as Implementation Support Agency (ISA) under the JJM.
The MoU was signed in presence of PHED Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah at the Srimanta Sankardeva International Auditorium, stated an official communiqué.
The signatories of the MoU were Kailash Karthik, MD, JJM and Krishna Barooah, MD, ASRLM. As per the MoU , SHGs, VOs and CLF under ASRLM will work as Implementation Support Agency (ISA) whose primary role will be community familiarization and Gaon Panchayat resolution for taking up JJM in Assam, capacity building of GPWSC, VWSC and WUC and creating awareness among people to ensure engagement of community in JJM water supply schemes.
Addressing the gathering, Jayanta Mallabaruah said that to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of Har Ghar Jal, SHGs and VOs under ASRLM should play a key role in implementation and maintenance of the schemes. He also acknowledged the fact that Assam doesn't face water scarcity so people are naturally not inclined towards tap water supply. However, he pointed out that traditional sources of water are not always safe and clean and have the potential to cause water-borne diseases.
"The primary goal of the SHGs and VOs is to build public trust that safe water is being provided by Government," asserted the Minister. He also said that pure water can literally upgrade community health. The Minister also said that although the NGOs were working in capacity of ISAs, it failed to achieve the desired outcome as they had to face a communication barrier. He added that the Government believes that with local SHGs and VOs, the problem will be solved as they will be able to carry out the awareness drive in the local dialects. He also mentioned that an amount of Rs 280 per household has been fixed as remuneration to SHGs, VOs etc., which has been divided into three phases namely planning and mobilization phase, implementation phase and post implementation phase which will stretch for 18 months.
Mallabaruah also mentioned that quality of work will be checked in three phases which is termed as Jal Utsav. In the first phase Self Help Groups will check the proper functionality of FHTCs and geo tag the connections along with filling up questionnaires to upload in data base. In the second phase, schools students from class 9 to 12 will randomly collect water from FHTCs and check its quality in laboratories. In the 3rd phase, officials of State Government will inspect the schemes and household connections.
The Minister also informed that Jal Mitras who will take care of the schemes are currently undergoing training at different ITIs of the State.
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