The Ministry of Jal Shakti’s Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation held its 12th District Collectors’ Peyjal Samvad meeting to review progress on Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 and share working practices across regions. Senior officials and district administrators from across India participated in the video conference to discuss ways to speed up implementation of the rural water supply scheme. Six districts were chosen to present their experiences and innovations to help other regions improve their own programmes.
Key Updates and District Progress
The meeting focused on several priority areas: ensuring water source sustainability, conducting community awareness campaigns, setting up complaint resolution systems, and linking different government programmes for better results. District officials were advised to hold regular monthly water and sanitation meetings to track scheme performance, water quality and the ability of sources to meet long-term demand.
Six districts shared their results:
- Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh: Completed 544 single village schemes, with 405 already handed over to local gram panchayats. The district aims to be fully functional by 26 January 2027.
- Samba, Jammu and Kashmir: Increased tap connections from 23% to nearly 70% of households, adding around 35,000 new connections despite challenging hilly terrain and falling groundwater levels.
- Hooghly, West Bengal: Conducted village-level service assessments and involved nearly seven lakh women through self-help groups in water conservation awareness and grievance redressal.
- Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh: Implemented a solar-powered water scheme in a tribal area and ensured two-thirds of community leaders involved in water governance are women.
- Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab: Achieved 100% tap connection coverage and launched a 12 megalitre per day surface water project to address groundwater depletion and fluoride contamination.
- North and Middle Andaman: Achieved 100% coverage across approximately 24,400 households using eight schemes worth about 5.2 crore rupees, with plans for village-level water storage to handle seasonal shortages.
What this means for you
If you live in a rural area, these developments suggest your district should be working to strengthen its water supply infrastructure, improve water quality testing, and resolve complaints more quickly. Communities are being encouraged to take greater responsibility for maintaining water systems through gram panchayats and village committees, so you may see more involvement of local organisations in managing your water supply. States have been instructed to begin source mapping and post-monsoon testing of water supplies from 2 October 2026, and to organize handover ceremonies on the same date when completed schemes are formally given to village administration.