THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With just 11 months remaining for the deadline of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) that will provide drinking water connections to all rural households, only five panchayats have achieved the target in the district and the works for the remaining panchayats are moving slowly.
Anchuthengu, Chirayinkeezhu, Kadakkavoor, Kalliyoor and Vakkom are the panchayats where 100% households received drinking water connections through the mission.
In the remaining 68 panchayats, JJM works have been lagging due to various reasons, including the delay in finding an apt scheme, obstructions facing in land acquisition process for installing tanks and allied pumping facilities and also the difficulty in getting road cutting permissions from authorities concerned.
At Karode, Malayinkeezhu and Parassala panchayats over 10,000 households are yet to receive connections through the scheme. In 20 panchayats, connections are pending for 5,000 to 10,000 households. In another 38 panchayats, 1,000 to 5,000 households are remaining to be covered. In Kizhuvilam panchayat, only less than 500 houses are remaining to be connected to achieve 100% coverage.
Between 500 and 1,000 houses are to be covered to accomplish the mission at Azhoor, Elakamon, Kallikadu, Kanjiramkulam, Thirupuram and Vettoor panchayats. Of the total 66,1107 households in the rural parts of the district, only 38,4264 connections have been given so far and the remaining 27,6843 houses are yet to be provided with drinking water connections.
“In fact, the situation in Thiruvananthapuram is better compared to the JJM works going on in other districts. In the state capital, drinking water schemes existed in several panchayats even before the implementation of JJM project. In these panchayats, only a few houses were left to provide connections. It was difficult to provide connections to these houses through the existing schemes and an apt new arrangement was needed. This delayed the JJM works in these panchayats,” said VS Krishnakumar, executive engineer, JJM.
The most important problem that delays JJM works in the district is the difficulty in getting road cutting permission for the works, said the officer.
Of the 357 requests given to PWD, NHAI, RICK, KRFB and KSTP, only 119 have been approved so far and the remaining 238 are yet to be approved despite a delay of several months. “This issue has been conveyed to the government and a meeting was held last week with all these agencies. Now directions have been issued to grant road cutting permission immediately to resume the works and to find a solution on war-footing where it is impossible to provide road cutting permission,” the officer added.
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