Himachal again tops in drinking water quality, will be awarded on Gandhi Jayanti

While consistently excelling in the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission JJM, another achievement has been registered in the name of Himachal Pradesh at national level. The hilly state has once again got top ranking in drinking water quality. Jal Shakti Minister Mahender Singh Thakur informed here today that Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat would present this award to HP on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti and Swachh Bharat Diwas on Sunday at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

Mahender Singh Thakur said that Himachal had consistently done excellent work in JJM. During a comprehensive survey of tap functionality, the state had once again been ranked first in the country in the quality of drinking water service delivery. Last year also, the state had secured first position in water quality and tap functionality in similar comprehensive survey, he added.

Jal Shakti Minister informed that Himachal was continuously getting full financial support from the Central Government for the implementation of JJM. The Central Government had made a financial provision of Rs. 1344.94 crore to the state this year and had released its second installment of Rs. 336.23 crore on 30^th September. He said that the Central and State Governments had so far provided a total amount of Rs. 3820.61 crore under JJM.

Mahender Singh Thakur said that in view of the excellent work under the able leadership of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, the Central Government had also released an incentive amount of Rs. 1028.43 crore to the State during three years. While thanking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Mahender Singh said that the PM had always shown benevolence towards a small hilly state like Himachal Pradesh and had praised the State Government on many occasions for its excellent work in JJM.

Jal Shakti Minister informed that water connections had been provided to all the households of 15,300 villages of 2551 panchayats in 21 blocks of four districts of the state. About 96 percent households in the state had been provided with functional taps so far, he added. Mahender Singh Thakur said that besides providing taps to every households, works on many big drinking water schemes had been started in remote areas of the state and old schemes were being renovated under JJM. Apart from this, all 63 laboratories of the state had been accredited by NABL to ensure drinking water quality. He said that in order to bring transparency in the testing of water quality, all the laboratories had been opened to the general public at the lowest rates. Along with this, field test kits had been provided to each village and five women of each village were being trained to test drinking water. So far, 45191 rural women had been trained for water testing, added Jal Shakti Minister.

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