Chandigarh, Mar 24 (PTI) In keeping with the aims of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) which emphasises a community-managed approach, the Haryana Cabinet on Tuesday approved a decentralised, participatory, and sustainable model for rural drinking water supply.
A cabinet meeting chaired by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini here approved an operation and maintenance (O&M) policy for supply of potable water to rural belts statewide, an official statement said. The statement said a cornerstone of the new O&M policy is to establish and empower Village Water and Sewerage Committees (VWSC) under gram panchayats, through a government-community partnership (GCP) model.
The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) will provide technical support, hand-holding and capacity building to these committees. The partnership aims to ensure sustainable operation and maintenance of water supply infrastructure, timely resolution of service issues, improved service delivery, besides accountability and transparency in local water management, the statement said.
The VWSC shall carry out operation and maintenance activities at the panchayat level. These activities will include ensuring proper water supply to households, maintenance of head works, repair of faults or leakages arising in the scheme or in the distribution system, monitoring of the water supply system and revenue collection.
Technical assistance for all these tasks shall be provided by the PHED. However, responsibilities such as electricity charges, staffing, and new infrastructure works will remain with the department.
Additionally, to improve accountability, redressal of drinking water-related grievances will continue to remain under the Right to Service Act, with PHED responsible for ensuring timely compliance.
The policy also includes capacity building of the community for water testing, record keeping, O&M practices and maintaining accurate consumer data through the BISWAS billing software, operated by self-help group members.
The issuance and collection of water bills will be managed by the local bodies, with revenues directly utilised for local operations and maintenance.
Further, the VWSC will implement the most suitable maintenance practices based on local needs, ensuring a responsive, community-centred water management system.
“For the overall health and sustainability of the drinking water supply systems, it is essential to encourage citizens to participate financially. On implementation of the O&M Policy, the revenue collection on account of water charges is expected to increase substantially and ultimately lead to saving in the state exchequer,” the statement said.
The new O&M policy aims to incentivise panchayats by providing additional funds at par with the water charges collected from consumers.
Decentralised governance will instill community ownership ably supported with financial resources and robust institutional system under the new policy, also expected to reduce time taken in redressing citizen grievances, it said.
There are 6,721 villages in Haryana. Out of these, 4,583 are under single panchayats, while 2,138 fall under multiple panchayats and Mahagram villages.
A memorandum of understanding as a tripartite agreement shall be signed between the gram panchayat, VWSC and the PHED to roll out the new O&M policy in each panchayat, the statement said.
The implementation of this scheme will begin from April 1, 2026, in single panchayat villages and from April 1, 2027, in the multiple panchayat and Mahagram villages, it added. PTI SUN ARB ARB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.