Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, on June 27, informed that all census town areas will be included under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
“After a detailed discussion, we took a decision that we will move the government of India to allow non-municipal areas including census towns to be included under JJM. Last week, I had a meeting with the Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and I am happy to inform that not only Umlyngka, but all other census towns that were earlier not included under JJM will be included under it now,” he said, at a programme held in Umlyngka to inaugurate the milk collection centre of Umlyngka Primary Milk Producers Co-operative Society.
The announcement from the CM is in response to an appeal made by the local MLA of Mylliem constituency and cabinet minister, Hamlet Dohling, to extend the benefits under JJM to Lawsohtun, Nongkseh and Umlyngka as these areas fall under census towns and JJM is not applicable in these areas.
Sangma also said that he held a meeting with the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) to get details on the number of non-municipal locations that are not under JJM, and was informed that close to 20 non-municipal locations are not under the scheme.
Earlier, Sangma had said that the government has proposed the Umlyngka Water Supply Scheme amounting to Rs 12 crore-Rs 13 crore under the NABARD Infrastructure Development Assistance (NIDA), which is a scheme under National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
However, the scheme did not progress due to certain guidelines from the Finance Ministry and there were challenges in getting the Umlyngka Water Supply Scheme sanctioned under NIDA.
“Under Mylliem constituency, next to Lawsohtun, Umlyngka has a large population of 13,000 but the place faces a lot of challenges in terms of water supply,” Dohling said.