Centre announces 'Har Ghar Jal' to accomplish mission of safe drinking water

The Centre on Wednesday launched National Water Quality Sub Mission on Arsenic and Fluoride to provide safe drinking water to about 28,000 affected habitations in the country by March 2021, with an outlay of Rs 25,000 crore.

Union Minister for Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar said that while West Bengal is badly affected by the problem of arsenic, Rajasthan has been suffering serious health hazards resulted from fluoride in drinking water.

Seventy-seven percent of 17, 14, 000 rural habitations in India have been provided with safe drinking water while four percent are still afflicted with problem of water quality.

Reportedly amount of Rs. 23000 has been set by the Government for providing tap water on a sustained basis in every household by 2030 as per the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG).

Tomar claimed that the issue of 'Har Ghar Jal' cannot be realized without the involvement of the citizens. He said that there are about 2,000 Blocks in the country with an acute shortage of surface and ground water sources and called for conservation of water on war footing through convergence of schemes like MGNREGA.

He informed that since the launch of the Swachcha Bharat Mission (SBM), more than 3.6 Crore toilets have been constructed in the rural areas and 16.41 lakh toilets were constructed under MGNREGA.

Tomar and Minister of State (MoS) for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramesh Jigajinagi launched Water APP on the occasion. Prizes were distributed to various state governments for exemplary work done by them in the areas of sanitation and drinking water.