A day ahead of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birth anniversary, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) with a budget of Rs 6000 crores aimed at sustainable groundwater management.
Addressing a press conference after the cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said it was an ambitious scheme and seven states are being given benefit in the first phase.
"The Atal Jal programme has been launched to provide sustainable groundwater management. This is an ambitious program for which the Cabinet has approved an outlay of Rs 6,000 crore. Of this Rs 3,000 crore will come from the World Bank while the rest will be given by the Centre," Javadekar said.
He said Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh are being given the benefit of the scheme in the first phase.
He said that the scheme has been launched to help people living in rural areas as most of their water requirements are met through underwater resources.
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