DW BUREAU / chandigarh Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Friday lauded the efforts of Haryana Government for swiftly moving forward to achieve the target of providing piped drinking water to all rural households in the country by 2022, which is much ahead of the National target date of 2024, under the ambitious 'Jal Jeevan Mission' (JJM). He said that other states have been asked to emulate Haryana pattern in planning their way forward in 'Jal Jeevan Mission.' "It is a matter of great pride that dedicated efforts made by various departments and officers, who under the leadership of Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal, are continually working as a team to beat the National Goal of providing tap water connection to all rural houses by 2022," the Minister said. Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said this while reviewing the work being carried out by Haryana Government under the 'Jal Jeevan Mission' (JJM), through video conferencing held here today. Chief Minister Manohar Lal, Additional Chief Secretary, Public Health Engineering Department, Devender Singh, Deputy Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Ashima Brar, and other officials were also present. In the meeting, Chief Minister said, "Reiterating its commitment to provide water connection to all rural households, Haryana Government is speedily moving forward to provide Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) to all rural households by 2022. Various measures are being taken in a bid to provide piped drinking water to all rural households." Under this Mission, for providing Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC), road cut charges of Rs. 2000 have been waived off by the Government and citizens would be provided with two options either to pay Rs 500 upfront as new connection charges and or to pay Rs 50 (i.e., Rs 40 flat rate + Rs 10 extra) for general connection and Rs 30 (i.e., Rs 20 flat rate +Rs 10 extra) for SC connection, as per prevailing Government tariff pay, in this way the payment of Rs 500 as a connection fee will be collected through easy monthly installments, he informed. He informed that according to the guidelines issued by the Central Government, under this mission, a multitude of steps have been initiated as well as Village Water and Sewerage Committees are being constituted with a 50 per cent stake of women members. Divulging the details about the State Government's own water conservation scheme, the Chief Minister shared that with the aim to save water, 'Mera Pani Meri Virasat Yojana' has been launched under crop diversification. Under this scheme, farmer willing to adopt crop diversification would get an incentive of Rs 7,000 per acre from the government, he added. The farmers of the State have also been appealed to adopt crop diversification. (editor@dailyworld.in)