Central team lauds Jal Swapna project

Kolkata: A central team of the National Jal Jeevan Mission appreciated the progress of the implementation of Jal Swapna project, which was taken up by the state government to provide tap water connection to every household.

So far, the Mamata Banerjee government has ensured tap water connection to 5.5 lakh houses in just the past four months. Banerjee launched the 'Jal Swapna' project in July with an aim to provide tap water to every rural household in Bengal.

With implementation of Rs 58,000 crore project, people will no longer have to walk four to five kilometres to fetch safe drinking water.

A team from National Jal Jeevan Mission visited the state from December 2 to 4 and visited different areas in Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24-Parganas.

"The four-member team expressed their satisfaction after witnessing the progress of work besides giving a few technical advice," said the state Public Health Engineering department minister Saumen Mahapatra.

The state Public Health Engineering (PHE) department has undertaken work at the grassroot level in war footing and ensured tap water connection to the 5.5 lakh households so far. The department has set the target of ensuring 30 lakh such connections by the end of March 2021.

According to a senior official of the PHE department, the members of the team visited different areas and witnessed the implementation of the project. The members of the central team also held a meeting with the officers and engineers of the PHE department and discussed the plan of action in connection with providing tap water connection to every household by the end of 2024.

The state government officials have also informed them about its plan of providing tap water connections to every anganwadi centres at the earliest.