There was a time when women of Soi village in Leparada district of Arunachal Pradesh were required to reach the stream flowing near it at the crack of dawn to get clean water for their families. As those who reached late had to be content with turbid water, reaching the stream in the early morning hours was a challenge for the women.
But the age-old practice has thankfully changed after the launching of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) “The JJM has made life easy for housewives like us. Thanks to it, we can now get clean water in our houses,” says Nyami Basar of the village. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the mission on August 15, 2019 with the aim to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024.
The state government has provided functional household tap connections (FHTC) in almost all the villages of the district under JJM, ending the daily hardship of fetching water which was faced by the women, she added.
Leparada district was created by bifurcating Lower Siang district in 2018. It has an approximate population of 25,000 odd people residing in Basar, Tirbin Sago and Dari circles covering 81 villages.
According to the official data, 93.3 per cent of the district’s area has been covered under the mission.
“There are a total 3211 households in the district. The target was to provide 1,781 FHTCs under JJM of which 1,662 were provided till July 12 this year. The remaining 119 will be completed by October next,” PHE and water supply department executive engineer Bomi Nyorak said.
Besides, 408 FHTCs were sanctioned under National Rural Drinking Water Programme and another 914 were provided in the district so far as per the budget, the official said.
