Minister for Panchayat Raj and Information Technology N. Lokesh on Saturday said ₹22,000 crore would be spent on protected water schemes to provide safe drinking water to all habitations by end of 2019.
He said ₹10,000 crore ha already been spent on various schemes in the first phase.
Mr. Lokesh was speaking after inaugurating a protected drinking water scheme at Suryaraopeta in Panduru village of Kakinada rural mandal that was provided with ₹15 crore NABARD and RIDF-2017 funds.
Ambitious target
The aim was to complete 240 schemes by March 2019 and the remaining by December that year, the Minister said.
The quality of water being supplied through the overhead reservoir tanks (OHR) would be monitored using a sensor system from Amaravati, he said.
Besides launching water schemes, the government would also renovate the old OHR tanks, he added.
Referring to the water schemes in the East Godavari district, Mr. Lokesh said ₹800 crore of ₹3,300 crore required had already been released.
Deputy Chief Minister N. Chinarajappa, Kakinada MP Thota Narasimham, Legislative Council Deputy Chairman Reddy Subrahmanyam, ZP chairman Jyothula Naveen, MLCs and Rural MLA Pilli Ananthalakshmi were present.