Central share in Jal Jeevan Mission must be higher: C'garh CM

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday demanded that the Centre's share in the Jal Jeevan Mission, aimed at providing tap water to all rural households in the country by 2024, be increased for his state from the current 50 per cent to 75 per cent. In a video conference meeting with Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhwat, Baghel said the demand has been made considering the circumstances in Chhattisgarh, a public relations department official said.

Baghel said his government had prepared an action plan and would work on mission mode to provide clean drinking water to every rural household through tap by 2024, the official added. "Chhattisgarh is the ninth largest state in the country. It is a tribal state, with a large area under forest cover and a sparse population. Villages in Bastar and Surguja areas are located over an area of several square kilometers.

Therefore, it will cost more to deliver drinking water through pipelines to every house," the chief minister said. "Besides, there are no huge water bodies in tribal areas of the state, particularly in Bastar. If every house has to be provided with piped drinking water, then first water will also have to be arranged," the CM said.

Referring to the ambitious 'Narva, Garuva, Ghurva, Bari'(rivulet, cow, compost pit, vegetable garden) scheme of his government, Baghel said under the Narva scheme, 30,000 rivulets will be revived, and work had started on 1,100 of them. The Union minister assured all possible assistance for the Jal Jeevan Mission, and said funds received under CAMPA, MGNREGA and the 15th Finance Commission will be utilized for the purpose of providing water to every household, the official said.

Officials informed in the meeting that out of 43.17 lakh households in rural areas of the state, water is being supplied through pipelines only in 4.82 lakh households, and the remaining 38.34 lakh households will be covered under the scheme, he said..

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