DC Kathua discusses modalities for implementation of District Action Plan

KATHUA – Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, Rahul Pandey today chaired a meeting to discuss modalities for effective implementation of District Action Plan (DAP) of Jal Jeevan Mission here at a meeting held in the DC Office Complex.

At the outset, Superintending Engineer Hydraulic Sanjeev Malhotra apprised the Deputy Commissioner that 515 villages of 257 Panchayats of the district would be covered under District Action Plan for which 299 Water Supply schemes have been proposed.

The DC took component wise review of Water Supply Schemes and laid emphasis on ensuring inclusion of all the villages and seeking ground reports before finalizing the District Action Plan.

The Chief Education Officer was asked to share data of schools without tap water connections and directed XEN Jal Shakti to include the left out schools in the Plan.

The DC asked for making district level water testing labs functional to ensure supply of safe drinking water through close monitoring and surveillance.

While discussing the engagement of Implementation of Support Agencies (ISAs), the DC called for ensuring active involvement of ASHAs, AWWs, staff of RDD and Revenue departments for monitoring the performance and developing an institutional mechanism.

The DC called upon the officers to expedite the process to provide safe water supply to left out households at an earliest. He said that the objective of the scheme was to provide safe and adequate water to all households which require coordinated efforts among all stakeholders right from planning to its execution on the ground.

The ADDC and DFO Kathua were asked to ensure that identified locations for developing JJM schemes are free from any encumbrances and are dispute free.

It was given out in the meeting that the final DAP should be comprehensive in nature, ground-truthed and with a built in mechanism to take every stakeholder on board as per the JJM guidelines.

The DC also called for taking up aggressive IEC campaigns on JJM at all levels to bring a behavioural change regarding water conservation and management amongst the masses.

The meeting was attended by ADDC Ankur Mahajan; CPO Uttam Singh; ACD, DFO, DWSO, XENs and other concerned officers.