47% of rural households in Meghalaya are connected with functional water taps: PHE Minister

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaApril 21, 2023

Public Health Engineering Minister Marcuise N Marak on Friday informed that the department has been able to provide functional tap connections to over 3.10 lakh households in the state.

Speaking to reporters, Marak said, “Our target is to provide functional tap connections to 6.51 lakh households and we have (given tap connections to) 3.10 lakh households, which stands at 47.69 per cent.”

He said Meghalaya is the best performing state in terms of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) implementation and the state has received Rs 400 crore as incentives given by the Centre three consecutive times.

“We have also got additional funds for this entire year. We have Rs 3,000 plus crores for implementing the JJM…Therefore, in this current financial year we have to do our best to get the household tap connections,” he added.

The minister said there are some hurdles being faced by the department while implementing the JJM due to difficult terrain and road connectivity.

“There are areas where the water source is not there and the department has to go for drilling and in some locations we don’t get the cooperation from the villagers due to which land issues are there,” he said.