Mokokchung Times News
Mokokchung | February 16
With Mokokchung district continuously facing acute water scarcity every winter season till about the month of March and April, year after year, proper implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM- Rural and Urban) is a much awaited government scheme that was welcomed with a sigh of relief.
JJM, a flagship program of the Government of India, aims to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household of the country by 2024. The scheme was launched on August 15, 2019. However, at present, only 34% rural households in the entire nation and 39.55% in Nagaland have received tap water under Jal Jeevan Mission-Rural. Even after three years of its launch, the numbers show that 93.55% of the total number of villages in Mokokchung district is yet to achieve 100% FHTC to every household.
Executive Engineer, PHED, Mokokchung, Er. Hebo Zhimomi, confirmed to Mokokchung Times that, so far, only 5 villages in Mokokchung District have 100% Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) under the Jal Jeevan Mission- Rural (JJM-R). The five villages are Settsu, Satsukba, Kelingmen, Dibuia and Merangkong.
According to the JJM dashboard maintained by the Water Ministry, there are 129 villages in Mokokchung District, out of which 16 do not have in-village water supply (see table).
On being asked about the reasons for the delay in implementation, Zhimomi mentioned that getting timely resources from the center or the limited number of labor force in some villages, despite receiving resources from the center, are some of the reasons for the delay.
He further added that the projects are looked after by WATSAN and Village Council of respective villages, where some villages struggle to bring in required work force due to limited resources in their village.
Speaking about the current status in Mokokchung, he stated that, 56 more villages have been proposed and its implementation is further awaited.
While Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Union Budget speech (2021-22) announced about Jal Jeevan Mission-Urban (JJM-U) to provide universal coverage of water supply to all households through functional taps in all statutory towns in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal- 6, the government is yet to start its implementation.