Over 9 crore rural households receiving tap water: Centre

New Delhi: More than nine crore rural households across the country are now receiving clean tap water under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the government said on Wednesday.

Since the announcement of the Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019, households across 98 districts, 1,129 blocks, 66,067 gram panchayats and 1,36,135 villages have been receiving clean tap water, according to a statement issued by the Jal Shakti Ministry.

In Goa, Haryana, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, every rural household has tap water supply, the statement said.

Many more states such as Punjab (99 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (92.4 per cent), Gujarat (92 per cent) and Bihar (90 per cent) are on their way to achieve the ”Har Ghar Jal” target this year, it added.

The government has allocated Rs 3.6 lakh crore to achieve the mammoth task of providing tap water supply to every rural household in the country over a span of five years.

The statement said an amount of Rs 60,000 crore has been allocated to ”Har Ghar Jal” in Union Budget 2022-23 to provide tap water to 3.8 crore households.

In addition, an amount of Rs 26,940 crore was allocated to the states in 2021-22 as 15th Finance Commission tied grants for water and sanitation to rural local bodies and panchayati raj institutions.

”There is an assured funding of Rs 1,42,084 crore for the next five years i.e. up to 2025-26,” the statement said.