Seven crore rural families given piped water connection in three years that helped achieve milestone: PM Modi

He was addressing via video link a programme organised by the Goa government to mark 100 per cent piped water supply coverage in rural households of the state

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that seven crore rural households got piped water connection in the last three years under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

This achievement has helped the country to reach a milestone of 10 crore connections in rural households so far.

When the Mission was announced on August 15, 2019, only 3.23 Crore (16.90%) of the households in villages had access to piped water connections.

The PM was addressing a programme organised by the Goa government to mark 100% piped water supply coverage in rural households of the State, through video conference.

"In the seven decades since Independence, only three crore rural households had piped water. But in the last three years, since the announcement of this mission, our government has connected seven crore additional rural households through tap water," the PM said.

Modi said that when he made the announcement of the Jal Jeevan Mission, there were 16 crore rural families that were dependent on other sources of water. "We could not keep such a big population struggling," he added.

So far, 3 States (Goa, Telangana and Haryana) and 3 UTs (Puducherry, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Andaman and Nicobar Islands), have reported 100% coverage. Punjab at 99.93%, followed by Gujarat at 97.03%, Bihar at 95.51% and Himachal Pradesh at 94.88% are also poised to achieve saturation shortly.

On August 17th, Goa and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (D&NH and D&D) became the first ‘Har Ghar Jal’ certified State and Union Territory in the country respectively, where people in all villages confirmed the availability of adequate, safe and regular supply of water for all households in their villages, through Gram Sabhas, said a statement from Jal Shakti Ministry.

The relentless efforts of the Union and State governments have also resulted in ensuring the provision of tap water supply in 8.67 lakh (84.35%) schools and 8.96 lakh (80.34%) anganwadi centres in the country. In the 117 aspirational districts of our country, at the time of the launch of the Mission, only 24.32 lakh (7.57%) households had access to tap water which has now increased to 1.54 Crore (48.00%), said the statement.