Jal Jeevan Mission: Andaman & Nicobar presents FY22 action plan

On March 22, 2021, World Water Day, Andaman & Nicobar Islands was declared to have achieved 100% of rural households with tap water connection. With this, it became the third state/UT in India to achieve 100% coverage of rural households with tap water supply after Goa and Telangana.

Andaman & Nicobar has 62,000 rural households in 266 villages located in nine blocks of three districts. Further, UT has also provided piped water supply to all the 368 schools, 558 Anganwadi centres and 292 public institution centres. As 100% of rural households in Andaman & Nicobar Islands have been provided with tap connections, it?s vital to ensure that every rural home gets a tap connection regularly and long-term without any disruption. This means the focus of the UT administration is now on ?service delivery, a part of the Jal Jeevan Mission.

In the Annual Action Plan (2021-22), Andaman & Nicobar Islands plans to focus on the sustainability of its completed schemes in 266 villages. The UT will also focus on strengthening its Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance (WQMS), IoT-based sensor for measurement and monitoring of water supply schemes, greywater management and most importantly, IEC activities to make people aware of various aspects of water management like water conservation, judicious use of water, wastewater treatment and reuse, among others.

The UT was urged to emphasise on greywater management through soak pits and reuse water for agriculture, forestry, horticulture purposes.

JJM, a flagship programme of the Indian Government, aims to provide tap water connection to every rural household in 2020-21. In 2021-22, in addition to the Rs 50,011 crore budgetary allocation for JJM, there is also Rs 26,940 crore assured fund available under the 15th Finance Commission tied-grant to rural local bodies (RLBs) and Panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) for water and sanitation, matching state share and externally aided as well as state-funded projects.

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