Centre agrees to provide ₹27,000 crore for Phase-I of Jal Jeevan Mission, says Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu

Centre agrees to provide ₹27,000 crore for Phase-I of Jal Jeevan Mission, says Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. It is targeted to complete Phase-I of the project that aims to provide drinking water to every household through taps by the end of 2028, he says. Union Agriculture Minister has promised remedial action on the plight of chilli farmers, he says.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said the Union government agreed to provide ₹27,000 crore for implementation of Phase-I of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), of which not even 1% had been utilised during the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government’s term.

The Andhra Pradesh government had appealed for sanction of that amount, which the Centre did, subject to preparation of DPRs on the basis of revised guidelines being laid down by it.

A sum of ₹54,000 crore was required for Phase-II of the JJM, the objective of which was to supply drinking water to every household through taps.

“For now, the focus is on grounding Phase-I of the project,” Mr. Naidu told the media in New Delhi.

The Chief Minister said the State government targeted to complete the Phase-I by the end of 2028. Once it was accomplished, efforts would be made to take up the second phase, he said, and blamed the YSRCP government for squandering the opportunity to provide safe drinking water to the people. He pointed out that States such as Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat derived huge benefit from the scheme.

As far as the price of chilli was concerned, Mr. Naidu said Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan promised during a video-conference to take remedial action after discussing with his team of officers the extent to which the Central government could procure the commodity from the States, which was currently a maximum of 25%.

He observed that the cost of chilli cultivation in Andhra Pradesh was not factored while fixing the price, due to which the farmers stood to lose heavily. This was taken to the Union Minister’s notice, he said, adding that 12 lakh tonnes of chilli were to be procured in the State and four lakh toones had already reached the markets.