28,000 Arsenic & Fluoride affected habitations in country to get safe drinking water by 2021

New Delhi,27 May,(VNI)Union Minister for Rural Development, Drinking Water & Sanitation and Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar has said that providing safe drinking water is one of the top most priority of the government and the Government is committed to providing tap water on a sustained basis in every household by 2030 as per the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for which Rs 23,000 crore of central fund will be required annually till the target is achieved. The Minister said that the dream of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ cannot be realized without the involvement of the citizens. Referring to the launch of National Water Quality Sub Mission on Arsenic and Fluoride to provide safe drinking water to about 28,000 affected habitations in the country by March 2021 with an outlay of Rs 25,000 crore, he said that there will be no discrimination of funds against any state to address the twin challenges of drinking water and sanitation. He said that sanitation coverage has increased from 42 percent 2014 to 64 percent in the current year and more that 4 crore toilets were constructed. Shri Tomar further said that under the 14th Finance Commission, Centre will be releasing more than 2 lakh crore rupees to Gram Panchayats for 5 years to undertake physical and social infrastructure projects in the villages. The Minister said that earlier about Rs 30,000 crore was allocated to the Panchayats in the 13th Finance commission, wherein Panchayats found it difficult to execute developmental projects in a holistic fashion. So far, Rs 51,234 crore were allocated to the states and 44 lakh panchayat functionaries were provided training.