Over 57,400 schemes to provide drinking water in rural areas

Rs 4,373 crore was allocated to states under National Rural Drinking Water Programme in 2015-16, of which Rs 4,369.55 crore has been utilised

Over 57,400 schemes are going on in different states to provide drinking water to the rural population and over Rs 4,300 crore utilised for the purpose in 2015-16, the government said today.

Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed Lok Sabha that Rs 4,373 crore was allocated to states under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme in 2015-16, of which Rs 4,369.55 crore has been utilised.

Citing data, he said there are 57,489 ongoing schemes in different states to provide drinking water to the rural population as on August 8.

In Jammu & Kashmir, there are 1,838 ongoing rural drinking water supply schemes, he said during Question Hour.

Noting that drinking water and sanitation is a state subject, Tomar said the Centre's role is to provide technical and financial support to the states as well as monitor such programmes.

With regard to Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G), Tomar said the programme aims at achieving Swachh Bharat by October 2, 2019 and focusses on behaviour change and community engagement.

In 2015-16, Rs 6,525 crore was allocated for SBM-G and out of it, Rs 6,524.52 crore has been utilised, he said.

"Since launching of SBM-G on October 2, 2014, 212.98 lakh toilets have already been constructed till August 8. In addition to this, a total of 17 districts, 232 blocks, 32,395 gram panchayats and 72,727 villages have been declared Open Defecation Free," the Minister said.