CM Sarma directs pursuance of target to provide piped water in 800 tea gardens of Assam

Guwahati, June 26 (NKTV): Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma today held a Video Conference with Deputy Commissioners of all districts to review the implementation status of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in the state.

MD of National Jal Jeevan Mission and Additional Secretary, GOI, Jal Shakti Department Bharat Lal was also present during the VC and gave a presentation on Assam’s performance in the scheme.

The CM 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.

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.

Sarma 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. He 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.

Dwelling on dearth of technical manpower and importance of engaging young engineers, Sarma asked JJM, Assam to engage five Assistant Engineers in each division to speed up work and conduct walk-in interviews to hire engineers on merit basis at the earliest. He also directed top officers of the concerned departments and DCs to ensure implementation on war footing to make Assam high performing state in the national Mission while achieving the target of providing tap water to all households by 2024.

PHED Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Samir Kumar Sinha, MD JJM Assam Akash Deep were also present in the meeting among others.