Assam: Left out of government’s Jal Jeevan Scheme, villagers depend on streams for drinking water

Villagers from Kinangaon and nearby villages under Chaygaon Legislative Assembly Constituency in Kamrup district of Assam are getting relief from the Nature’s Jal Jeevan Scheme despite the Indian government’s ambitious scheme JJM (Jal Jeevan Mission) especially for rural areas. Kinangaon village is some 14 kilometers far from the Boko Sub Division of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED).

More than fifty families from Kinangaon and Chakrasila village (some 2 kilometers far from Kinangaon) are collecting water for drinking from a stream from a hillside situated in the Kinangaon village. It is to be mentioned that the Kinangaon village is a Garo tribal people inhabited village.

Annoyed people of the Village alleged that the state government neglected them from before and that is why they did not get any drinking water supply yet. So they are collecting water from the stream.

Samadika Rabha from Chakrasila village said, “From my village more than thirty women come to this place by walking and collecting around 20 liters of water for drinking for their whole family.”
“We did not get Jal Jeevan Mission drinking water till today” added Samadika Rabha.

She also expressed her regret that they have wells, but the water is not good, so they come to collect water for drinking from the stream. Thus they are surviving from Nature's Jal Jeevan Scheme.

Women and girls of this area carry pitchers, bottles in a bamboo made basket which they carry on their head.
It is to be mentioned that the Jal Jeevan Mission is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India.

The Centre's ambitious programme Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) has achieved 22.17 per cent success in Assam till 2021.

Bita Sangma, a woman from Kinangaon village said that they collected water from that stream from their childhood which is more than thirty years and till now they collect water from the same stream.

Sub Divisional Officer of Boko PHED office Mukut Barman said, "Under the Boko SubDivision which covered Boko, Chaygaon and Palashbari Constituency around 80 percent of retrofitting works for drinking water has almost finished including revised schemes."

"10 percent of new schemes works almost completed which includes land finalization and deep tubewell boring is going on. The government strictly ordered all contractors to complete their works before March month of 2024.

Otherwise they will not get their bill for the construction. Therefore, all contractors under Boko PHED Subdivision are working hard to complete their works as soon as possible", added SDO Mukut Barman.

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