PM Modi virtually addresses ‘Har Ghar Jal’ utsav in city

PANJIM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually addressed the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ Utsav under Jal Jeevan Mission and witnessed the launch of QR code services for the water bill payment event organised at the Institute Menezes Braganza Hall, here, on Friday.

Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral, WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar, Secretary in the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation Vini Mahajan, IAS; PWD Principal Chief Engineer D C Gupta, Chief Engineer Santosh Mhapne were present on the dais. 

The programme was organised to commemorate Goa becoming the first State to achieve a 100 per cent piped water supply system and launch of QR code services for water bill payment at the hands of Shekhawat. 

During his virtual address, the Prime Minister congratulated Sawant, Cabinet Ministers and the people of Goa for achieving success in becoming the first State to achieve a 100 per cent piped water supply system for every household, and expressed his happiness towards another milestone achieved under the mission ‘Har Ghar Jal’  i.e 10 crore rural households of the country have been connected to piped clean water facility including Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu as first Union Territories and more than one lakh villages in different States of the country have turned ODF plus. 

Modi highlighted the benefit of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ for the future generation and women, he said as the main sufferer of the problems related to water, women are at the centre of the government’s efforts. It is improving the ease of living for women and giving them a key role in water governance. 

’ Jal Jeevan Abhiyan’ is not just a government scheme, but it is a scheme run by the community, for the community,” he said.

Apart from this, India has also significantly increased the number of wetlands. Today, its number has also increased to 75. Of these, 50 sites have been developed in the last eight years only, Modi added.

Speaking on the occasion, Sawant congratulated the entire team of PWD, WRD, Directorate of Panchayat etc, who were felicitated on the occasion by the Union Minister for their immense contribution to achieving the great success of certifying Goa as the first State to achieve 100 per cent piped water supply system for every household under ‘Har Ghar Jal’ under Jal Jeevan Mission. 

He also appreciated the self-initiative taken by Alen Lobo to prepare QR coding of all water bodies in the State by spending his own money. 

Speaking on QR coding, Sawant said, “Goa is the first State to provide the QR coding facilities for the billing.” He thanked TGSB Bank for supporting this system. “Through this system, billing and collection system will be improved,” he added.

The Chief Minister expressed his happiness towards Goa becoming the first State to achieve this mission in spite of many difficulties and the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“Till now, 14 national accreditation labs have been established in the State to provide purified water in every household,” he added. 

Shekhawat said, “We need to recollect and understand the ideology behind freedom struggle made by our freedom fighters, which gone through many worst situations while achieving the freedom to make India in a new form as it was their dream.”

“Though Goa has achieved ‘Har Ghar Jal’ target much earlier, a certificate was not awarded unless every village panchayat sends a recorded message of village representative that every household got the water,” he pointed out.