Around two crore Indians are living in arsenic and fluoride affected habitations, the government told Parliament today.
Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation S S Ahluwalia informed the Rajya Sabha that as on February 1, drinking water in 17,818 habitations, with a population of 1.78 crore, was affected by arsenic.
Similarly, 12,382 habitations, with a population of 97.94 lakh, were affected by fluoride, he said.
While long-term exposure to arsenic in drinking water can cause cancer in skin, lungs, bladder and kidney, the effects of fluoride contamination are particularly evident in the form of bone deformities in children.
"For improving the coverage of safe-drinking water to rural population, this ministry supplements the efforts of the states by providing them with technical and financial assistance through the centrally sponsored National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP)," he said.
The MoS further said the ministry had launched the National Water Quality Sub-Mission (NWQSM) last year in March under NRDWP to provide safe drinking water to about 28,000 arsenic/fluoride affected habitations over a span of four years.
"As on date, Rs 1,889.31 crore has been released to the affected states under NWQSM and 1,645 affected habitations have been covered as reported by the states," he said.
While West Bengal tops the list of states having most number of habitations (10,846) affected by arsenic, Rajasthan (6,087) tops the list for fluoride-affected habitations.
In December last year, minister for drinking water and sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar told the Lok Sabha that more than 10 crore people in the country were getting water contaminated with excess fluoride.
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