Leh, April 21: Advisor Ladakh, Umang Narula chaired the 5^th Apex Committee Meeting of Jal Jeevan Mission at the Civil Secretariat, Leh. The Commissioner/Secretary, Public Health Engineering Department, Ajeet Kumar Sahu elucidated the agenda items in a detailed presentation viz. Annual Action Plan, social audit, physical verification; hiring of Jal Shakti Fellow; establishment of Drinking Water Quality Commissionerate (DWQC) under JJM in the UT amongst others. He explained that after the start of the working season, work has commenced at all locations in Ladakh barring a few remote areas and the PHE department is committed to achieving the target assigned by the UT Administration

Sh Umang Narula, Advisor to HLG Ladakh and Chairman of Apex Committee asked both the DCs, PHE engineers, and all other stakeholders to give a final push to the efforts made so far to achieve the Har Ghar Nal status in Ladakh by or before 31^st July 2023 without fail. It is pertinent to mention that Ladakh has been successful in connecting 73% of rural households in Leh and 70% rural households in Kargil with taps by November 2022 itself and work was stalled due to extreme winter. GoI as well as Ladakh Administration has set a target to achieve 100% coverage in the whole of the UT by or before 31^st July 2023. Advisor asked the officers to ensure the full participation of the villagers and PRI members in the efforts so that all the Schools, Anganwadi, Ashramshalas, GP Buildings, Health/ wellness centers are also provided with functional Tap water connections within the given timeline.

The Committee was also apprised that three labs of Ladakh would get the NABL accreditation by 15^th May and other labs would also be accredited by Dec 2023. Sh Sahu explained that JJM targets provide quality water through taps and thus all activities of quality monitoring are being planned to be made independent of the Department. Besides, auto-chlorinators are also being installed on a pilot basis. The water quality is also being monitored online through the national WQMIS system.

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Apex Committee also approved the scheme of hiring JJM fellows, one each in both districts and finalized its eligibility, selection criteria, remuneration, etc. Advisor Narula stated that the fellowship should be tied up with a university so that it’s advantageous for the candidate in their studies or research.

With regard to Grey Water Management, Advisor Narula reiterated that intervention at both household and community levels has to be ensured for effective management of grey water. He added that seeking Grey Water management through people’s participation and involving the Panchayats is of utmost importance. Advisor Narula exhorted that all pending work in the implementation of JJM must be completed expeditiously by July and urged the officials to work with serious commitment.

The Commissioner/Secretary, Rural Development Dept, Saugat Biswas apprised the committee about the status of Grey Water Management and stated that the soakage pit designs have been re-examined in consultation with the JJM team.

The meeting was also attended by Commissioner/Secretary, Rural Development Dept, Saugat Biswas; Comm/Secy, Information dept, Padma Angmo; DC/Kargil; Director Health, Dr Motup Dorje; Deputy Secretary, School Education; In-charge Chief Engineer, PHE and I&FC; Superintending Engineers, PHE/ I&FC, circles, Leh/Kargil; JJM Ladakh, PMU officials, and other concerned officials.