In News
A Village Water and Sanitation Committee shall be constituted as a sub‐committee of Gram Panchayat in Gram Panchayats, for providing support in terms of motivation, mobilization, implementation and supervision of the programme. The VWSC should play a crucial role in the comprehensive and saturation approach to Nirmal Grams.
More About VWSC
- Village level institutions (VLI) are collectives of people residing in the same village. These institutions are formed either through external intervention or are initiated by the people.
- It will function as a legal entity as envisaged in the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution.
- It may be headed by Sarpanch/ Up Sarpanch / GP member/ traditional village head/ senior village leader as the Gram Sabha may decide and Panchayat Secretary/ Patwari/ Talati may act as Secretary.
- It may consist of 10-15 members comprising elected members of Panchayat up to 25% of the composition; 50% women members (key to success); and remaining 25% may consist of representatives of weaker sections of the village (SC/ ST) proportional to their population.
- They are formed as implementation agencies under National Jal Jeevan Mission.
- It is envisaged under JJM that the community will play a lead role in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply infrastructure thereby leading to functional household tap connections (FHTCs) to every rural household.
- The willingness of the community, reflected through Gram Sabha resolution and community contribution, will be the foremost criterion for planning of water supply systems in villages.
Components Under Jal Jeevan Mission
- Development of in-village piped water supply infrastructure to provide tap water connection to every rural household.
- Development of reliable drinking water sources and augmentation of existing sources to provide long-term sustainability of the water supply system.
- Wherever necessary, bulk water transfer, treatment plants and distribution network to cater to every rural household.
- Retrofitting of completed and ongoing schemes to provide FHTCs at minimum service level of 55 lpcd.
- Support activities-HRD, training, development of utilities, water quality laboratories, water quality testing & surveillance, R&D, knowledge centre, capacity building of communities.
