Several U.P. districts excel, Shahjahanpur on top

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday cited the latest rankings released on the Jal Jeevan Mission website as proof of its commitment to ensuring tap water in all rural homes soon.

Several Uttar Pradesh districts have done well in the rankings, especially Shahjahanpur that has topped across the country in the “aspirant districts as well as best performing district” category in October.

Bulandshahr, Bareilly and Mirzapur have excelled too Several other UP districts also figure in the survey.

Principal secretary (Namami Gange and rural water supply) Anurag Srivastava said, “Various districts have figured in the nationwide rankings. They include Shahjahanpur, Bulandshahr, Bareilly and Mirzapur. Owing to chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s efforts, we are on course to ensuring maximum tap water connections in Bundelkhand villages by December,” he said.

In Jal Jeevan Survekshan2023, districts across the country have been selected in various categories. The districts with 100% tap connections in a month emerge as front- runners. Those with 75 to 100% tap connections are high achievers.

Those providing 50 to 75% connections have been classified as performers. The ones with up to 25% tap water connections are included in the aspirant category.

“Shahjahanpur with 689,990 marks stood first in two categories. It was ranked on top in the aspirant category for ensuring 28,419 tap connections in October,” Srivastava said.

According to a press note subsequently released by the government, as per the data on the Jal Jeevan Mission website, till October 1, 44,557 families were given tap connections and by October 31, this figure had risen to 72,976.

Bulandshahr (657180 marks, 21260 tap water connections in October) is in second place in best performance category and placed third in the fast-moving districts, according to the government release.

The number of tap water connections in Bulandshahr was 97,129 on October 1 and rose to 118,389 by October 31. Bulandshahr has made it to the aspirant category as the second state to provide 6% functional household tap connections (FHTC) in a month. In one month, 119 women were trained in water testing in Bulandshahr, the release added. Bareilly (with 619114 marks) stood second in the best performing category and was third in the aspirant category by giving tap water connections to 22,222 families in October, the release added.

Till October 1, 59,834 connections were given in Bareilly and the figure rose further to 82,056 connections by October 31.

Mirzapur (600,050 marks) stood second in the fast-moving category for ensuring tap water connections to 20,655 families, officials said. Till October 1, 74991 tap connections were given here and the number rose further to 95,646 connections by October 31, according to the information given in the release.

Besides this, three U.P. districts have done well in field testing kits (FTK) training category.