Chhattisgargh’s Chunchuna Gets Clean Water 1st Time After Independence
Chunchuna village in Chhattisgarh, once lacking clean drinking water, now has 24/7 access to safe water thanks to the government's Jal Jeevan Mission.
It is hard to believe that even after 77 years of independence, many places in India still struggle to get clean drinking water. One such place was Chunchuna, a remote village in Chhattisgarh, located near the Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand border. Until recently, the villagers here didn’t have access to safe drinking water.
Chunchuna’s difficult location, surrounded by dense forests and lacking proper roads, made it extremely challenging to dig borewells or lay pipelines for water. Additionally, Maoist activity in the area made it even harder to carry out any development work. As a result, the villagers had to travel long distances, often on foot, to fetch water from unsafe sources.
But everything changed when the central and state governments launched the Jal Jeevan Mission. This program was designed to provide safe drinking water to every household in rural India through individual tap connections. It also focused on water sustainability measures, like water conservation, greywater management, and rainwater harvesting.
Thanks to the Jal Jeevan Mission, Chunchuna’s problems started to get solved. Roads were built, and the necessary infrastructure was developed to bring clean water to the village. Today, around 100 households in Chunchuna have access to clean water, 24/7.
Pankaj Jain, the Executive Engineer of the Public Health Engineering Department, spoke about the difficulties faced during the project. Despite many challenges, he said that clean water was now available, and efforts were continuing to improve the water supply further. He also mentioned that there were plans to develop water sources for nearby villages that had previously been left out.
The villagers of Chunchuna expressed great relief and happiness. They shared how having access to regular clean drinking water has made their lives much easier and healthier.
The success in Chunchuna is part of the larger impact of the Jal Jeevan Mission, which has already brought clean water to more than 60% of rural households across India. The mission has also empowered local communities, especially women, to take charge of managing and monitoring their water resources, ensuring the water supply remains sustainable in the future.
For those of us who have easy access to clean water at all times, it might be hard to understand how important this initiative is. But for the villagers of Chunchuna, the Jal Jeevan Mission has completely transformed their lives, and hopefully, their access to clean water will continue forever.
