Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra (Retd) inaugurated Jal Jeevan Mission schemes in villages with 100 % Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) during his interaction with the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) members, including Chairpersons of Block Development Councils (BDCs), Sarpanches and Councillors on August 3.

A total of 60 water supply schemes, including 29 in Leh district and 31 in Kargil district, were inaugurated which are fully completed.

It  was informed that Ladakh has achieved 80% FHTC coverage in all rural households of Ladakh and three blocks in Ladakh- Lungnak, Thiksay and Singay Lalok along with 68 villages-33 in Kargil and 35 in Leh- have achieved 100% saturation of FHTCs.

LG stated that the discussion on Jal Jeevan Mission is critical as water is crucial for life- for cooking, drinking, taking baths and various other purposes and emphasised the need to ponder the situation of drinking water five years down the line. Terming the interaction with Councillors, Chairpersons of BDCs and Sarpanch of different villages as fruitful and beneficial, LG assured to take necessary actions on all doable points.

He highlighted the need to take necessary actions to complete work on providing FHTCs to all rural households by the end of September to ensure the saturation of coverage of FHTCs in all rural households by the end of 2023.

LG assured to look into the issues raised by both the CEC/Chairman of LAHDCs and all PRI members along with providing all possible assistance in ensuring 100% saturation of coverage of FHTCs in rural households. Highlighting the need, to be honest with oneself and work with dedication and probity, he stated that all the stakeholders need to take responsibility and work collectively to ensure the success of the JJM scheme in Ladakh. He also highlighted the need to rise above politics and work for the overall benefit of the people from rural households.

PRI members were asked to get fully involved in the implementation process to ensure that the remaining blocks achieve 100% coverage and work collectively for the success of the project while taking over the responsibility for planning, implementing, operating, maintaining and managing drinking water security.

LG instructed Commissioner Secretary, PWD, Ajeet Kumar Sahu to ensure blacktopping of roads damaged while carrying out JJM works in rural areas.

Certificates of appreciation were distributed to sarpanch of different villages which has achieved 100% saturation of FHTCs. The Operation and Maintenance Policy Booklet of Village Piped Water Supply Schemes in Ladakh was also released.

Chairman/CEC, LAHDC Kargil, Feroz Ahmed Khan highlighted the need to make the JJM scheme sustainable in the long run. He stated that the fee collected from supplying drinking water through FHTCs in rural households would not be adequate to carry out the operation and maintenance works of the scheme and highlighted the need to provide separate funds for it.

Chairman/CEC, LAHDC Leh, Tashi Gyalson said that it is because of the JJM scheme that people of Ladakh living in remote areas have access to potable drinking water. He made some valuable suggestions, viz. improvising soak pits being constructed under MGNREGA, making public stand posts (PSPs) functional in the winter, providing additional budget to carry out O&M works, building capacities of PRI members to enable them to take ownership of the scheme and review the functioning of FHTCs at schools and Anganwadi centres in Ladakh. 

M P Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal made several observations about the implementation of the JJM scheme in Ladakh including the panchayats where tap connections were functional during the winter and the need to sustain it, the need to empower the PRI members to take over the responsibility of various works under JJM scheme, the need to inform him about necessary steps to resolve JJM-related issues of various villages flagged by him and stringent action needs to be taken against defaulting contractors, etc.

Advisor to LG, Dr. Pawan Kotwal, who is the Chairman of Apex Committee JJM Leh, lauded the efforts of the department and stakeholders and assured the PRI that government would be provided with all support in O&M of JJM schemes.

Mission Director, Jal Jeevan Mission Ladakh and Commissioner/Secretary PHE/IF&C, Ajeet Kumar Sahu apprised that Ladakh was lagging in all the states and UTs in the initial months of the mission’s inception and today ranks amongst the highest performers. He further stated that 17 additional blocks have achieved more than 80% coverage and are expected to achieve saturation by 15th August 2023.

During the meeting, various bottlenecks in implementing Jal Jeevan Mission were also discussed, viz reliable power supply including installation of sub-station, etc. as well as a few community issues.

The public representatives raised certain apprehensions about the sustainability of the scheme during winter, the proper policy of handholding PRIs to enable them to effectively operate the scheme, the construction of soakage pits to ensure the functionality of the schemes, early restoration of damaged roads and lanes which were dug during the execution of the scheme, the addition of public stand posts and handpumps as a back-up plan during the winter months.

The Jal Jeevan Mission Ladakh has also contributed to making Ladakh carbon neutral and more than 1.1 MW capacity of solar plants have been installed so far, which will not only be useful for the water supply scheme but also provide surplus electricity to the nearby household.

Jan bhagidhari was the critical component of the success of the Jal Jeevan Mission. PRIs were involved from the planning stage to the implementation. As per the water supply scheme guidelines, after completion of the scheme, it is to be handed over to the village committees for its operation and maintenance. Considering this aspect, the UT administration has also prepared an O&M policy providing the required funds, powers and manpower support to the PRIs for maintaining these schemes.

Additionally, the social audit of these schemes has been made mandatory where all the stakeholders including the Gram Sabha discussions of issues and solutions for the success of the Jal Jeevan Mission Scheme are recorded and uploaded online. Block-level and district-level committees monitor the implementation of the scheme while technical committees monitor the technical aspects of the scheme.

A robust grievance redressal mechanism and portal have been set up to address the grievances being received by the Jal Jeevan Mission team.