New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Demands for Grants related to the Jal Shakti Ministry for the year 2025-26.

Replying in the Lok Sabha to the discussion on the Demands for Grants, Jal Shakti C R Patil said that the government has provided tap water supply to over 15.52 crore rural households in the country so far under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

He added that when the Jal Jeevan Mission was launched in 2019, only around three crore rural households had tap water connections. The minister said 25 lakh women from five lakh villages have been trained to test water samples using field test kits.

The minister said around 1.36 lakh child deaths per year would be prevented if safe and adequate drinking water were supplied to every household in the country.

Patil informed that the Centre has increased the budget on drinking water and related areas by four times as compared to the previous UPA regime.

Earlier, participating in the discussion, Anand Bhadauriya of the Samajwadi Party alleged that the government has failed on every front, like linking of rivers, Namami Gange and Atal Bhujal Yojana.

He accused the government of having no plan to manage floods and drought in the country. Some other members, including Independent MP Umeshbhai Babubhai Patel and Raj Kumar Roat of the Bharat Adivasi Party, also participated in the discussion.

Robert Bruce of Congress alleged that, under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the government has failed to provide tap water connections to every rural household by 2024.

He said now the scheme has been extended to 2028. Bruce accused the government of only focusing on cleaning the river Ganga and ignoring the other major rivers in the country.

UNI JA ARN