Jashpur, Aug. 4 -- Covering several kilometres to fetch clean drinking water was the routine of earlier days for the population at Kujri, a village surrounded by forest and hills in tribal-dominated Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh, before the Jal Jeevan Mission came as a boon to them.

Kujri is a village located around 15 to 17 kilometres from Jashpur district and close to the border of the neighbouring state of Jharkhand. Earlier, the villagers had to rely on borewells for drinking water, but whenever they failed, the people had to cover several kilometres to fetch water from the River Lava.

Although the government had installed hand-pumps in the village, these water sources would dry up during summer due to a decline in water level. ...