Punjab among 9 states having 100 % water supply in rural households: MP Arora

Ludhiana, August 23, 2023: The provision of tap water supply has been made to 100 percent rural households in Punjab, reveals data made available by the Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel in reply to a question about Har Ghar Jal Scheme asked by MP (Rajya Sabha) Sanjeev Arora.

Arora had asked a question about the coverage percentage of Har Ghar Jal scheme in the country and the details thereof, State/UT- wise.

In reply, the Minister stated that Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal in partnership with States, to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household in the country. As reported by States/ UTs, as on July 19, 2023, out of 19.46 Crore rural households in the country, provision of tap water supply has been made to 12.59 Crore (64.70%) households. The Minister also provided the State/ UT-wise status in his reply.

In a statement here today, Arora said as per the data given by the Minister revealed that provision of tap water supply has been made to 100 percent rural households in 9 States/UTs, including Punjab. The other eight States/UTs where such a provision has been made are as under: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry and Telangana.

The provision of tap water supply in other States/UTs is as under: Bihar (96.38%), Mizoram (89.94%), Sikkim (86.28%), Arunachal Pradesh (84.64%), Uttarakhand (78.41%), Maharashtra (77.52%). Ladakh (77.21%), Manipur (76.72%), Nagaland (73.16%), Tamil Nadu (70.17%), Andhra Pradesh (70.06%), Karnataka (68.78%), Jammu & Kashmir (66.05%), Tripura (65.55%), Odisha (62.19%), Chhattisgarh (53.34%), Meghalaya (53.27%), Uttar Pradesh (52.65%), Assam (52.13%), Madhya Pradesh (51.04%), Kerala (49.74%), Rajasthan (41.03%), Jharkhand (38.76%), West Bengal (34.26%) and Lakshadweep (0.01%).

Thus, the data shows that Punjab State is far better than many States/UTs as far as provision of tap water supply is concerned.  The data further revealed that there are a total 1.14 lakh rural households in Punjab and all these households are getting tap water supply. 

Vini Mahajan former Chief Secretary of Punjab is heading this Department as Secretary Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Meanwhile, reacting on this, Arora said, “The credit for supplying tap water supply to 100% rural households in Punjab goes to the state government. Had the state government not taken an initiative for the same it could not have been possible.”