Union Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramesh C. Jigajinagi, on Friday, said the centre’s ambitious project was to provide piped water supply to all households in the country by 2030.
At an estimated cost of over ₹5 lakh crore, the project is in the discussion stage, for which workshops are being conducted, he said and added that the government was committed to provide piped water to 80% rural households by 2022.
He was speaking after inaugurating the Ramakrishna Mission’s Swatchata Mission Phase 4, which involves Swatch Mangaluru, Swatch Manas and Swatch Dakshina Kannada programmes, here. Before the end of this year, 35% rural households and 50% villages in the country should get piped water supply, Mr. Jigajinagi noted.
The Minister pointed out that the centre would bear 50% of the project cost while respective state governments would bear the balance. For the north-eastern states, centre would bear 90% of the project cost.
Mr. Jigajinagi noted that 71.14% of villages (13,31,508 out of 17,26,109) in the country are provided with potable water, while 3,21,290 villages (18.61%) are partially provided with potable water. The government is concerned about contaminated water sources for 73,311 villages, he said. The government had earmarked ₹5,931 crore for drinking water in 2016-17, of which ₹5,371 crore was spent. In 2017-18, state governments are provided ₹4,595 crore for drinking water, he said.
He also said that 79% of the 60,248 habitats in Karnataka are getting piped water supply, while 36% of the households have tap water supply.
Sanitation
With regard to sanitation, Mr. Jigajinagi said 5.21 crore individual toilets have been built since the launch of Swatch Bharath campaign on October 2, 2014. As many as 2.67 lakh villages, 1.17 lakh gram panchayats, 225 districts and 2,48 taluks have been declared Open Defecation Free areas. He said 70.62% of the population in the country has individual toilets.
In Karnataka, 79.5% population has individual toilets as on January this year. As many as 15,661 of 27,268 villages, 2,946 gram panchayats, 74 taluks and 11 districts are declared Open Defecation free areas.
The Minister complimented Mangaluru Ramakrishna Mission for its endeavour to take forward Prime Minister’s Swatch Bharath Mission and urged people to participate in the campaign.
MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, Zilla Panchayat president Meenakshi Shanthigodu, MLC Ganesh Karnik, Nitte University Chancellor N. Vinay Hegde, Mission Secretary Swami Jitakamanandaji, MRPL Managing Director H. Kumar and former Gadag MLA D.R. Patil were present.
