NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched the Centre’s ambitious groundwater conservation scheme – called Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal) – and named the strategic tunnel under Rohtang Pass as ‘Atal Tunnel’ after the former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Modi, on the birth anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, urged farmers to opt for less water-intensive crops and irrigation methods that will help conserve water and ultimately fulfill the objective of ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ to connect all 18 crore rural households across the country with piped water by 2024.
The Rs 6,000 crore groundwater conservation scheme (Atal Jal) was approved by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday. It will be implemented in 8,350 water-stressed villages in seven states – Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – for 5 years (2020-21 to 2024-25)
Under guidelines of the Jal Jeevan Mission, each village will have a special committee to take care of the piped water supply issue through a village-level dedicated action plan and ‘water fund’. The Centre and all state governments together will spend more than Rs 3.5 lakh crore to implement the Mission over the next five years. The government intends to use cutting-edge technology, involving Artificial Intelligence and space technology, for implementation and monitoring of the Mission.
Referring to the guidelines, Modi urged villagers to give minimum 50% representations to women in that village-level special committee. The Prime Minister also noted a provision under the Mission where the government would send money directly into the account of the village-level special committee once the plan is implemented in the village.
He said that on one hand, Jal Jeevan Mission, would work towards delivering piped water supply to every house, and on the other hand, Atal Jal Yojana will pay special attention to those areas where groundwater is very low.
To incentivise village panchayats to perform better in water management, Modi said better performing village panchayats will be given more allocation under the provision of the Atal Jal Yojana. He also appealed to NRIs to provide whatever assistance they can extend for dealing with water-related issues in their villages.
Many villagers from the targeted villages under the Atal Bhujal Yojana participated in the launch function at Vigyan Bhawan through video-conference. Defence minister Rajnath Singh and Jal Shakti (water resources) minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat were also present on the occasion.
Referring to Atal Tunnel, defence minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, “The Govt under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi has fulfilled a long pending demand to name the tunnel under Rohtang Pass after Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji as a tribute to the former Prime Minister who took the historic decision of constructing this strategic tunnel.”
The 8.8-kilometre-long tunnel is the world’s longest tunnel above an altitude of 3,000 metres. It will reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 kilometres and save crores of rupees in transport costs.
The tunnel, once completed next year, will provide all-weather connectivity to remote border areas of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh which otherwise remained cut off from the rest of the country for about six months during winters.
By Vishwa Mohan TNN|Dec 25, 2019
