Maharashtra: Jal Jeevan Mission pipelines only trickle water in parched regions

It was the first day of Diwali and Rupali Hukire (name changed), a 42-year-old beautician, hurriedly cleaned big buckets and steel pots. She draws water from her neighbour’s borewell at a cost of Rs 100 for 30 minutes of pumping. Though Hukire’s home in Khandavi village in Barshi tehsil of Maharashtra’s Solapur district has a water connection provided by the gram panchayat, she gets tap water for only 45 minutes, once a week.

It is worse in summer when they get tap water once in two weeks, says Hukire. Sometimes it is too dirty to use and they have to buy water. The family pays Rs 100 as panipatti (fees for water connection) to the panchayat and Rs 800 to the neighbour every month. She earns Rs 15,000 per month through her beauty clinic.

In India, clean drinking water is a fundamental right, under the Right to Life as well as specifically, as courts have held over the years. The Union government, in partnership with states, launched the Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019 to provide water to every rural household by 2024.

The slogan – Har Ghar Jal – stood for an ambitious goal that every house would have a functional tap connection and an assured supply of 55 litres…

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