GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday held a video conference with deputy commissioners (DC) of all districts to review the implementation status of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in the state. The meeting was also attended by public health engineering department minister Ranjeet Kmar Dass.
Managing director (MD) of National Jal Jeevan Mission and additional secretary of Jal Shakti Department Bharat Lal was also present during the VC and he gave a presentation on Assam’s performance in the scheme.
The chief minister directed PHED and JJM, Assam to aggressively pursue the target of providing piped water to people in 800 tea gardens of the state at the earliest to achieve the total target of 22 lakh retrofitting under the mission in the villages with existing piped water connections.
He also directed to decentralize the mission by empowering the DCs to allot works to contactors, complete projects and release payments at the district level for minimizing delays and expediting works. Also instruction was issued to release funds for IEC and awareness works to the districts.
CM Dr @himantabiswa held a VC with DCs of all districts to review implementation status of Jal Jeevan Mission in the State in presence of PHED Minister Sri @RanjeetkrDass and MD, National Jal Jeevan Mission & Additional Secretary, GoI, Jal Shakti Dept Sri Bharat Lal.
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— Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) June 26, 2021
“Instructing DCs to review the status of implementation of the scheme at least once per week, the Chief Minister directed to delegate one ADC in each district monitor the project constantly. He also strictly directed JJM to achieve the target of setting up 200 NABL approved water testing labs mandated by the scheme at the district and sub-division levels within one month,” stated a press release by the directorate of information and public relations.
He also directed PHED and JJM to expedite land acquisition in the villages for setting up water supply plants and instructed DCs to speed up the process. The Chief Minister also stressed on providing piped water connection to Anganwadi Centers and schools on priority basis under the scheme. He said that APDCL would be asked to provide power connection in AWCs and funds would be released for the same, the statement added.
