No proposal to make right to safe water a fundamental right: Jal Shakti Minister

Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday said that no proposal to declare the right to safe water a fundamental right is under consideration by the government.

However, he said that the Centre is committed to ensuring that every rural household in the country has access to piped potable water under the ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission.

"I want to tell all the members of this house that no such proposal is under consideration by the government. Out of the over 18 crore households in rural areas of the country, clean drinking water is being supplied to over three crore houses. The remaining 15 crore households will have access to water soon. We have made this announcement. Rs 3.5 lakh crore has been allocated for this project. We are committed to ensuring clean drinking water to every rural household," Shekhawat said during Question Hour.

He made the comments in response to BJP member Hema Malini who said whether the government has a proposal to make the right to safe water a fundamental right in the country.

"According to a recent study by NITI Aayog, nearly 600 million Indians faced water stress with about 2 lakh people dying every year because of inadequate access to safe water. It is high time that the right to safe water should be made a fundamental right in the country. My question to the minister is whether there is a proposal to guaranteeing the right to safe water to the people either through the constitution or making legal provisions," Malini said in the House.

Earlier on November 16, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had said that while Mumbai's water quality was at the top, the samples from Delhi had failed on 19 parameters according to a study released by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for quality of tap water.

The study was conducted as per directions of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food & PD to check the quality of piped drinking water being supplied in the country in keeping with the objectives of the Jal Jeevan Mission.

In the first phase, samples of drinking water were drawn from various locations across Delhi and in the second phase samples were drawn from 20 other state capitals, and sent for testing as per Indian standards.