BHUBANESWAR: Piped water for all in rural areas by 2024 looks like a distant dream.
Of the 85.67 households in the villages, total 26.49 lakh (31%) have piped water now. It took 22 months, from August 15, 2019 to June 15, 201, to give piped water supply to 23.38 lakh houses, a written reply by Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to Lok Sabha shows.
With an average of a little more than one lakh households per month, the government would require more than 55 months for the rest 59.18 lakh houses.
According to the minister’s reply to a question by Kalahandi MP Basanta Kumar Panda, as on August 15, 2019, at the time of launch of Jal Jeevan Mission, out of 85.67 lakh rural households in in Odisha, 3.11 lakh (3.74%) had piped water connections. In the past 22 months, 23.38 lakh households have been provided tap water connections, increasing the coverage to 26.49 lakh households (30.93%).
Apart from Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission, Odisha has schemes such as Buxi Jagabandhu Assured Water Supply to Habitations (BASUDHA), in 2017-2018. The state has set a target to provide piped water supply to all houses by 2024.
