Leh, May, 12: Commissioner/ Secretary, Public Health Engineering/ Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Ajeet Kumar Sahu reviewed the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in Ladakh.
The meeting was informed that JJM aims at providing Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) to every rural household of India by 2024 (2022 w.r.t Ladakh) for supplying 55 LPCD water to every household. Ladakh has 44,082 households and the UT administration has fixed a timeline of 15 August 2022 to achieve 100% saturation well before the national target.
The meeting was informed that DPRS for providing more than 30800 FHTC has already been approved and at various stages of tendering and allotment. Com Secy, Sahu directed the concerned officials to fast-track the allotment process and ensure execution of work during the ongoing working season.
It is pertinent to mention that community participation is a major component of implementing JJM. Thus every village has its a Village Level Committee (VLWSC) headed by the concerned Sarpanch which prepares the village plan and then the said plan is approved by the District Level Mission which is chaired by the DC of the district. Going beyond the national guidelines Ladakh has also constituted Block Level Committees headed by the Block Chairman, besides BDO, AEE, JE etc as members to monitor the implementation of the scheme. To assist the VLC and Block level committees, the administration has appointed Implementation Support Partners for their handholding and capacity building.
All the work being executed under JJM are mandatorily being checked by a technical agency known as Third Party Inspection Agency (TPIA) before making any payment. The TPIA visit the site of schemes and physically examine to work to ensure their quality and all the technical parameters. All the schemes have been designed to work even during the winters.
To improve the quality of water being supplied, both the Deputy Commissioners were asked to immediately launch a program of testing of water samples of all the sources and identified delivery points on the pattern of last year to examine the chemical and bacteriological contamination if any.
Besides, the Sarpanches and RDD be involved in the annual cleaning of the area surrounding the water sources and remove the source of contamination.
The meeting was informed that a large number of village-level functionaries and volunteers were trained last year to use Field Testing Kits (FTKs) to check the water quality at the village level. Commissioner Secretary directed Superintendent Engineers to procure a sufficient number of Field Testing Kits (FTKs) and its regents in advance to ensure its availability to every village.
Chief Engineer, PHE informed that the last year one laboratory each at both the district HQ has been opened to the public to get the water sample tested by the individual consumer on payment of prescribed charges. The facility is being used by many people now.
Sahu directed both the Deputy Commissioners to complete all the formalities for getting the accreditation of the ‘National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)’ of all existing laboratories and also to float tender on priority to set up new labs in both districts in uncovered areas.
He also directed the Chief Engineer to track the process of preparation of the Skill Development and Grey Water Management Plan of JJM by the concerned department.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Commissioner, Leh, Shrikant Balasaheb Suse; Deputy Commissioner, Kargil, Santosh Sukhdeve; Chief Engineer, PHE, Fareed Ahmad Choudhary; SE, Kargil, Ved Prakash; Exen PHE, Leh, Mohd Ali and other PHE officials and Engineers.
