Safe drinking water provided to over 10K arsenic-hit habitations

New Delhi, July 26 The government has been able to provide safe drinking water to arsenic-affected habitations across six states, the Parliament was told on Monday.

Of the total 10,961 habitations, Assam has 3,026, Bihar 472, Jharkhand five, Punjab 317, Uttar Pradesh 668 and West Bengal has 6,473 habitations, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told the Rajya Sabha in reply to a question by BJP member Neeraj Shekhar.

Further, in all of the 124 arsenic-affected and in 50 out of 53 fluoride-affected rural habitations in Uttar Pradesh, community water purification plants (CWPPs) have been installed, purely as an interim measure, to provide potable water to every household at the rate of 8-10 litre per capita per day to meet their drinking and cooking requirements, the Minister said.

Since August 2019, the Centre, in partnership with states, is implementing 'Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Jal' to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household by 2024. The estimated outlay of the mission is Rs 3.60 lakh crore, out of which Central share is Rs 2.08 lakh crore.