JAIPUR: Rajasthan ranks a lowly 29th among 33 states and Union Territories in tap water connections in rural areas under the Centre’s flagship Jal Jeevan Mission – Har Ghar Jal scheme as of May 31.
The country’s most water distressed state has added just 8.11 lakh tap water connections against 4.22 crore connections under the scheme since August 2019.
For every 100 tap connections in villages, 0.6 were achieved in the state.
Ideally, the figure has to be 5%.
Since the beginning, the scheme has been embroiled in Centre-state trouble.
Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat blamed the Gehlot government’s lack of cooperation for the poor show.
Shekhawat on Tuesday tweeted, “Rajasthan definitely deserves better.
What Gehlot sarkar has done to the state is unpardonable – from the slow pace of #JalJeevanMission to criminal wastage of vaccine.” On the other hand, the state is blaming the Centre for not increasing its share for being a desert state from 50% to 90%, which was a norm during the UPA governments.
The Centre has been adamant about not moving an inch from its share while it has given relaxation to only hilly states.
PHED minister BD Kalla had on March 21 with Shekhawat urged the Centre to increase its share up to 90% for putting the scheme on fast pace.
A senior PHED official said, “Unless 90% funding is done, the state would not able to achieve its target of 100% taps in over 1.19 crore households.
During the UPA regime, the state was getting up to 90% funding for water projects.
The NDA government has changed the rules.” A senior officer with the public health engineering and groundwater department said they were working to fulfill the target of providing 30 tap connections in its action plan 2021-22.
The Centre has allocated Rs 2,522 crore to the state under the scheme in 2020-21 while it is expected to give Rs 5, 500 crore under the head.
Reacting to the slow pace of work, Shekhawat said since major part of Rajasthan is drought-prone and desert, priority should be given to drinking water.
“Unfortunately, the state government is not giving priority to the water supply work to ensure tap water in rural homes.
After the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission, the state government changed four principal secretaries in a year.
Water is a state subject and the central government is providing such huge funds, which they are not utilising,” said Shekhawat.