Meghalaya gets President's award for 100% tap water connections in 1,500 villages

The hill state of Meghalaya has been awarded for providing 100 per cent tap water tap water coverage to nearly 1,500 villages under the Centre's Jaal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

The award was conferred by the President Droupadi Murmu to Meghalaya as one of the best performing states in the implementation of the JMM. Murmu presented the award to Meghalaya minister of public health engineering, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar on the Gandhi Jayanti.

Meghalaya was ranked second in the category States/UTs in JMM implementation, a feat considered significant for a small hilly state like Meghalaya, where drinking water is still a problem in many areas. In ‘Har Ghar Jal’ status, Meghalaya was ranked higher than Assam, J&K, Kerala, Manipur, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Goa, and other states. Meghalaya achieved HGJ status for 597 villages with close to 1,500 villages achieving 100 per cent tap water coverage, said a statement issued by Meghalaya government.

“Ensuring safe and adequate drinking water has been our foremost priority and also one of the most difficult challenges. At the initiation of the JMM in August 2019, only 4,500 of rural households had tapped water connectivity, whereas today over 2.53 lakhs households have tapped water connection, a whopping 55-fold increase in coverage. Moreover, 100% of households in nearly 1,500 villages now have access to tap water, thereby saving them the drudgery of fetching water from far-off places in our hilly terrains." Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K.Sangma said after the award was given.

The implementation team had to confront several odds like topographical challenges, scattered households in remote villages and other factors peculiar to this hilly state. The government also made significant spends of around Rs 1,407 crores in 2022 as compared to just Rs 27 crores in 2019; a 51 times increase in expenditure to expedite tap water connectivity in the state, said the statement.

"This award is indeed a great ratification of our relentless efforts in ensuring sustainable drinking water supply and improving the quality of lives of our people. But we have a long way to go and need to sustain this high momentum to achieve our vision of making Meghalaya one of the top 10 states in the country across key Human Development Index parameters”, Sangma said.