The Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday stated in the Assembly that the Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) has enabled functional tap water connections to reach about 15.64 lakh households across the Union Territory, though over 3.61 lakh households are yet to be brought under the scheme.
In a written reply to a question tabled by CPI(M) MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, Minister in charge of the Jal Shakti Department, Javed Ahmad Rana said, out of a total of 19,25,535 households, tap water connections have been extended to over 81 per cent of them.
According to the district-wise data, Srinagar and Ganderbal districts, with 10,407 and 41,551 households, respectively, have achieved complete coverage in tap water connections, Rana said. Other 18 districts are yet to be fully covered under the JJM scheme.
Among the 20 districts of J&K, Jammu tops the number of uncovered 62,950 households. Of the 1,89,120 households in Jammu, 1,26,170 have been provided tap water.
The border districts of Rajouri, Kathua, Samba and Poonch in the Jammu division have 44,759; 35,064; 23,648 and 22,077 households respectively without tap water connection.
The Government of India launched “Jal Jeevan Mission” for providing 100 per cent functional household tap connections (FHTC) in the country by 2024.
The Minister said that as many as 27,159 households in Kupwara are without tap water connections, followed by Doda with 26,757, Udhampur (20,589), Baramulla (16,706), Kishtwar (13,893), Budgam (13,764), Ramban (12,088), Pulwama (11,530), Anantnag (9,399), Reasi (7,210), Kulgam (5,514), Bandipora (4,785) and Shopian (3,472).
Responding to a separate query, Rana said all families in south Kashmir’s twin municipalities of Kulgam and Yaripora currently have water supply connections. However, to augment the water supply, two schemes, one for Kulgam and another for Yaripora, are under execution at an estimated cost of Rs 5.75 Cr and Rs 3.74 Cr, respectively, under the Atal Mission for rejuvenation and urban transformation (AMRUT) 2.0.
The projects are expected to benefit 6,421 households in Kulgam town and 1,142 households in Yaripora town by addressing low service levels. Both schemes are likely to be completed in the financial year, 2026-27.