Jal Jeevan Mission: Bengal bags performance award
kolkata: West Bengal has been selected for felicitation for exemplary performance in the 'quantity' parameter under Jal Jeevan Mission. The award will be handed over on the occasion of Swachh Bharat Divas on October 2 at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.
"I am pleased to announce that West Bengal has been selected for felicitation for exemplary performance in the 'Quantity' parameter under Jal Jeevan Mission. I would like to sincerely thank @MoJSDoWRRDGR (Ministry of Jalshakti) for recognizing our efforts," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted on Tuesday.
"This award is a testament to the perseverance and commitment of the officials who prioritised public service. Upholding our pro-people approach, we will continue serving the state with utmost dedication. Bengal will lead the way!" she further tweeted. According to data from the state Public Health and Engineering (PHE) department which is executing the project, Bengal presently has covered 48.49 lakh households.
The PHE department is working on a mission mode to ensure tap water connection to over 1 crore 77 lakh households under Jal Swapna project by the end of 2024. The project had kicked off in July 2020. Among the districts, Nadia has provided the highest number of connections with 6.37 lakh followed by Murshidabad with 5.04 lakh. Infact, the Mamata Banerjee government had achieved a major milestone by becoming the top state in the country in providing tap water connections to households in the financial year 2021- 22. Bengal had provided over 23.37 lakh connections in the last fiscal, well ahead of the second and third rankers Odisha and Bihar which had provided 17.47 lakh and 17.39 lakh connections respectively. BJP-ruled Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh were far behind in providing over 9.51 and 6.57 lakh connections respectively.
State PHE minister Pulak Roy said: "We have already received written communication from the centre. A senior official in the rank of secretary is likely to receive the award on behalf of the department."
