Guwahati: Ravi Kota, the Chief Secretary of Assam, on Tuesday reviewed the progress of the Jal Jeevan Mission and related piped water supply projects in the state.
The review revealed that 14,151 piped water supply schemes have been completed, with 12,109 handed over to the Public and Rural Development Department for operation and maintenance. To ensure the sustainability of the schemes, 9,537 Jal Mitras have been engaged by the respective water user committees. Additionally, 15,967 jal mitras have been trained and customized uniforms and toolkits are made available, officials said.
"When the Jal Jeevan Mission was announced, Assam had only 1.6% of rural households with access to drinking water, while the national average stood at 17 percent," officials noted. However, over the last 4.5 years, with nearly 2 years lost due to COVID-19, the coverage of rural household water connections stands at 79 percent. Districts with a slow pace of progress assured timely completion as per the current financial year targets.
The Chief Secretary directed the cancellation of schemes handled by the concerned "poor performing contractors" and debarring them from working on contracts in other Departments of the State Government. He also directed liquidated damages for slow-performing contractors for undue delays in execution.
Efforts are being made to recruit and re-assign skilled manpower by engaging technical resources from other engineering departments. Capacity-building sessions, such as crash courses, online workshops, exposure visits, and refresher programs, are organized for newly engaged engineers. Regular training sessions for contractors are also conducted for effective implementation at the grassroots level.
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