The Centre is planning to bring 80 per cent of the rural households under piped drinking water supply schemes in next eight years.
Currently, 45 per cent of nearly 6 lakh villages in the country have tap water supplies. And, of the 18 crore rural households, only three crore homes get piped water.
“This will entail an investment of at least ₹300,000 crore by the Centre,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI ).
Both the Centre and States will invest ₹68,000 crore each for the scheme during the current Five Year Plan Period, ending 2017.
Sanitation Similarly, around 10 crore households in rural India (accounting for 60 per cent of the rural households) do not have proper sanitation facilities such as toilets at home. According to Mojumdar, as much as 60 per cent of the rural population indulge in open defecation.
“Our target is to have toilets in every rural home and stop open-air defecation by 2022. The Centre will require at least ₹150,000 crore to set up sanitation facilities across these households,” Mojumdar added.
While ₹38,000 crore will be from Central funds during the ongoing Five Year Plan Period (2012-17), State Governments will contribute around ₹15,000 crore towards it.
He said corporates need to chip in. While some have taken up projects as a part of their corporate social responsibility programme, others have contributed technology and expertise.
Bengal figures In the case of West Bengal, 55 to 60 per cent of rural areas have piped water connections and 22 to 25 per cent of rural households have piped water supply.
Water and sanitation projects worth around ₹6,000 crore, mainly for rural areas, have been taken up by the State government, a senior official said.