Photo Courtesy: tripuratimes
Agartala: Tripura just rolled out its first Operation and Maintenance Policy to secure rural drinking water under the Jal Jeevan Mission. The plan dumps the burden of daily upkeep onto Village Water and Sanitation Committees inside every Gram Panchayat and ADC village. These local teams must now patch leaks, fix valves, run motors, and clean up around water points.
Big stuff stays with the state. The Public Health Engineering Department will still look after iron removal units, treatment plants, and massive supply projects. Households will pay small fees to cover power bills and upkeep, though vulnerable groups get a pass on the costs. Debabrata Tripura, the officer in charge of the Sakram DWS Sub-Division, confirmed the rules apply only to rural areas and skip over urban municipalities.
The Sakram subdivision covers a specific footprint. It spans the Satchand RD Block with 39 Gram Panchayats, Rupaichari RD Block with 18 ADC villages, and Poangbari RD Block with 4 Gram Panchayats and 3 ADC villages. Seven local bodies are officially running under this new framework now.
Technical failures still trigger state help. Debabrata Tripura believes the shift will fix service gaps and boost local oversight. "With this new O&M framework, public participation will increase, services will become faster and more transparent, and rural drinking water supply will be stronger and more sustainable in the long run," he said.
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