New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel jointly reviewed the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission in the state at Raipur on Saturday, a statement said.

The chief minister assured the visiting Union minister that the state government will take all necessary steps to accelerate the pace of the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission and provide tap water supply to the remaining 39.59 lakh households in Chhattisgarh by September 2023, it said

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Shekhawat also assured the chief minister of all support to the state to achieve the 'Har Ghar Jal' target, the statement said.

“The chief minister assured that the state will undertake an intensive monthly review to provide assured tap water supply to every rural household in adequate quantity of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis,” it said.

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Ravindra Chaube, Minister of Water Resources, Parliamentary Affairs, Law and Legal Affairs, Agriculture and Biotechnology, and Animal Husbandry and Fisheries; Guru Rudra Kumar, Minister of Public Health and Engineering and Village Industries; Amitabh Jain, Chief Secretary, Chhattisgarh; Bharat Lal, Additional Secretary in the Jal Shakti Ministry and Mission Director, National Jal Jeevan Mission, and other senior officers from the Jal Shakti ministry and Chhatisgarh were present during the review meeting, the statement said.

At the time of the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission, out of a total of 45.48 lakh households in Chhattisgarh, only 3.20 lakh (7 percent) households had tap water connections.

In 23 months, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown disruptions, 2.69 lakh households have been provided with tap water connections. As a result, now, 5.89 lakh households (13 percent) in villages of Chhattisgarh have tap water supply, the statement said.

To become 'Har Ghar Jal', the state has planned to provide tap water connections to 22.14 lakh households in 2021-22, 11.37 lakh tap water connections in 2022-23 and remaining 6.29 lakh tap water connections in 2023-24, it said.

Keeping in view of the state's firm resolve to ensure potable tap water supply to every home, Shekhawat has increased the Central grant to Chhattisgarh in 2021-22 to Rs 1,908.96 crore, which was four times to Rs 445.52 crore allocated in 2020-21, the statement said.

The National Jal Jeevan Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti has also released Rs 453.71 crore to the state as first tranche, it said.

Launched in August 2019, the Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide tap water connections to all rural households by 2024.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)