Water is being wasted every day because of the incomplete Jal Jeevan mission
K Gollahalli village does not have taps for their water connection which has been provided as part of the Jal Jeevan mission of the Karnataka government.
The Jal Jeevan mission is a project of the Government of India that the Karnataka government implements to provide safe and pure water to rural areas of Karnataka.
Manjunath, a resident of the village complained, “The panchayat is providing water to the village every day, but the problem is they haven’t provided taps for the water connection, so the villagers connect hoses to the water pipes to collect water in the pots.”
Sivanna, another resident of the village said, “This has been like this for a long period and water is being wasted every day.”
The K. Gollahalli panchayat comes under the Bangalore Urban Zilla panchayat. According to the Jal Jeevan Mission Progress report in Karnataka Bangalore Urban Zilla panchayat has the lowest number of household water tap connections in Karnataka at 23.17 percent. Even though the village has a water connection, the pipes are not fitted with taps, so the project is incomplete.
Ajaz Hussain, Chief Engineer in the Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Department (RDWSD), said “The Jal Jeevan Mission work is still in progress and will be completed soon.”
Sivaprasad, K Gollahalli panchayat secretary said,“Jal Jeevan missions are implemented by the Bengaluru Urban Zilla panchayat, but the development activities are not going well in the village. There are problems related to the Jal Jeevan mission.”
Renukamma, a resident of the village said, “Water is supplied twice a day. In the morning it is supplied for half an hour, but the timings vary for the second supply. When the supply starts, water begins to flow. When we finish collecting the water, we just put the hose into the storm water drain.”
Dr. Hariharan Chandrashekar, a trustee of the Alt Tech Foundation said, “The Jal Jeevan mission is a good intent but RDWSD is lacking on the implementation part. The measuring of the loss of water in every household has to be monitored and managed by the chief engineer and other officials in every panchayat to avoid the wastage of water.”
