#32. Jal Jeevan Mission Improving Lives of People of Bachoana Village in Block Budhlada, Distt. Mansa
Introduction:
Jal Jeevan Mission was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 15th August 2019. The state of Punjab has been active in providing piped water supply in rural areas, making it a front runner in this field. Punjab has achieved 100% coverage of households in the state by functional house tap connections in April 2022 under Jal Jeevan Mission. All the rural households have been provided uninterrupted supply of potable water and at the same time ensuring water quality.
The case study is for Bachoana Viilage, where lives of people are improved due to provision of water supply to all households of the village. The village is situated on Budhlada to Sunam road under Block Budhlada in District Mansa. It has a population of 6,133 and total number houses in the village is 1002. Apart from this, there are 4 schools and 7 Anganwadis. Water supply scheme in the village is being operated by the Gram Panchyat Water and Sanitation Committee Bachoana. Initially, there was no regular water supply in the village due to mismanagement of water distribution and wastage of water by consumers. More than 30% of the households were not satisfied and facing problem. The schools, Anganwadis, and Govt. buildings in the village were also facing problem due to unavailability of piped water supply. One of the problem was wastage of water by people. Under Jal Jeevan Mission, the water supply situation was improved by GPWSC with help of DWSS officials. The problem of wastage of water was solved through discussion among the GP members in gram sabha and campaign in the village. Under JJM, tap connections were also provided to schools, Anganwadis and govt. buildings.
Interventions under Jal Jeevan Mission:
In February 2022, DWSS officials started work to provide tap water connection to all the households in the village. As an initial step, several meetings and gram sabhas were conducted to discuss the strategy to achieve the Har Ghar Jal status at the earliest. Due to the effort of DWSS officials and village members, by end of August 2020, the target of 100% connections in this village was achieved and potable water in adequate quantity was provided to all the households in the village.
IEC activities were conducted by BRC and CDS of DWSS to change the approach of villagers regarding drinking water, importance of treated canal water and need to prevent wastage of drinking water. They successfully made an impact on the villager’s mindset and was able to change the approach of villagers toward surface drinking water. Gram Sabha meeting was convened for discussion on operation and maintenance of the scheme. The Gram Panchayat passed a resolution to select Mr. Gurpiar Singh, a resident of Bachhoana village as Pump Operator. Block Resource Coordinator provided the requisite training to the selected pump operator on mechanism of monthly revenue collection and on the process of conducting water sample tests and sustain the scheme financially.
GPWSC is maintaining record of their scheme and collecting water charges every month at a flat rate of Rs.50 per month. Initially, there were some challenges in collection of user charges as many consumers were not paying the water bills on time and wastage of water was done by many consumers. To address the challenges, the GPWSC and DWSS officials did many social interactions and informed beneficiaries about the importance of making payment in time and avoiding wastage of water. As a result, all water charges arrears were received by GPWSC. Proper chlorination of water is being done by the pump operator. Regular testing of residual chlorine is also being done by the pump operator with the help of field test kit. Biological and chemical testing of water is also done regularly with the help of field test kits. All records like ledger, cashbook, logbook, chlorination register etc. are maintained. Now, the scheme is financially sustainable with flat rate billing.
Social and IEC Interventions:
As social and IEC interventions in the village, many door-to-door visits and ward wise public meetings were conducted by BRC and DWSS social staff to motivate the consumers to prevent wastage of the drinking water and successfully made them realize the importance of treated canal water. It was explained that very small part of Punjab is able to get treated canal water rest uses ground water. Therefore, treated canal water must not be wasted. GPWSC meetings were conducted in localities, where majority of wastage happened. Also, all the consumers were educated step by step by DWSS social staff.
Meeting of GPWSC & DWSS Officials
Issues and Challenges Faced
During the ward wise visits in the village by DWSS Staff and GPWSC members, it was found that there was lack of understanding by people about the need to prevent wastage of water and importance of treated canal water. Where there were no field visits by GPWSC members, there was rampant wastage of water. Due to this situation, regular field visits were done and every time, people was explained to prevent wastage the water. The mindsets of people were successfully changed.
Improvement in Lives of People
There is improvement in lives of people in the villages due to regular water supply. There is sufficient drinking water supply to schools and Anganwadis. Numbers of students in the schools have increased during past few months. Due to supply of drinking water on specified time, female members of the families are able to invest their time on other works. Thus, due to supply safe drinking water of adequate quantity and quality, the villagers are living happily and leading healthy life.
Lessons Learnt
During implementation of project and IEC campaign, it was learnt that regular interactions with the villagers by GPWSC committee members and DWSS Social staff was useful to change their mindset towards the importance of treated canal water and in influencing them not to waste water.
Paani di Kahaani (ਪਾਣੀ ਦੀ ਕਹਾਣੀ) 