Total sanitation targeted by 2019, budget outlay hiked

The NDA government intends to cover every house under total sanitation by 2019 under the Swatchh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Thursday and sought support of people to achieve the target.

The budget also hiked the outlay for the ministry of drinking water and sanitation by 27 percent over the revised estimates for 2013-14.

"The government intends to cover every household by total sanitation by 2019, the 150th year of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi," Jaitley said in his budget speech.

He said that the need for sanitation was of utmost importance. "Although the central government is providing resources within its means, the task of total sanitation cannot be achieved without the support of all," he said.

Jaitley also said that many drinking water sources in the country have excess impurities like flouride, arsenic and contamination due to untreated sewage and industrial effluents.

"It is proposed to earmark Rs.3,600 crore under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NDWP) for providing safe drinking water in approximately 20,000 habitations affected with contamination through community water purification plants in next three years.

The budget provides Rs.11,000 crore for supplementing the states in their effort to provide safe drinking water to all rural habitations, and Rs.4,260 crore for rural sanitation.

The budget has hiked allocation for the ministry of drinking water and sanitation from Rs. 12,006 crore (Rs.120 billion) in revised budget estimates of 2013-14 to Rs.15,266 crore (Rs.152 billion) for 2014-15, marking an increase of Rs.3,260 crore.

The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, earlier known as total sanitation campaign, projects have been launched in rural areas of the country covering 607 districts.