On the occasion of 151st Gandhi Jayanti, the National Jal Jeevan Mission will launch a 100-day campaign to provide safe water supply in schools and Anganwadi centres across India, the Jal Shakti Ministry said on Thursday.
Paying tribute to Gandhi Ji the ministry said, “This campaign will go a long way in ensuring safe water supply to our children that will positively impact their health and overall development. This is a befitting tribute to the ‘Father of the Nation’ Mahatma Gandhi on his 151st birth anniversary.”
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged states and Union Territories to make the best use of the campaign to ensure potable piped water in public institutions while releasing the ‘Margdarshika’ for Gram Panchayats and Paani Samitis for the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
“During this 100-day campaign, gram sabhas will be convened coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti, on October 2, 2020, and in coming days to pass a resolution for providing safe water in all schools, Anganwadi centres and other public institutions in the village in the next 100 days,” the ministry said.
The facilities will be operated and maintained by the “Gram Panchayats or its sub-committee” i.e. village water and sanitation committee or Paani Samiti.
The campaign will be moved along with other line departments such as Education, Women & Child Welfare, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development and Tribal Welfare by the nodal department by involving Gram Panchayats.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat government is organizing an event at Porbander on Gandhi Jayanti where CM Vijay Rupani will declare that four districts of the state – Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Porbandar, and Anand have 100 per cent household tap water connections coverage. The 100-day campaign will be launched during the event, the release said.
The event will be joined virtually by Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat via video conference from Delhi.
In Gujarat, the tap water coverage in rural households is 79.85 per cent as on date and the state has provided tap water connections to 7.70 lakh households in 2020-21and JJM aims at universal coverage of tap water connection to every rural home by 2024.
