'Nal se jal' target: Ministry to work on ways to meet infrastructure cost

According to government data, only 18 per cent of the country receives piped drinking water with more than 400 million households still cut off

Tasked with delivering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll promise of “Nal se Jal”, the water ministry is set to work with various ministries to make the scheme economically and environmentally viable while providing piped drinking water to all households by 2024.

The Jal Shakti ministry, which was officially constituted on Monday, is likely to collaborate with the housing and urban poverty alleviation and the rural development ministries to achieve a countrywide coverage for the scheme, a senior government official said. The government, while considering pricing the drinking water supply, will also discuss ways to meet the cost of creating infrastructure