Jal Shakti Ministry rejects "misleading" claims by Telangana Ministers on Mission Bhagiratha scheme

The statement read The Union Jal Sakthi Ministry on Saturday dismissed as misleading the claim made by Telangana ministers T Harish Rao and Errabelli Dayakar Rao that the state government's flagship programme Mission Bhagiratha was the role model for the entire country. At a press conference on Friday, the ministers claimed that the announcement of the National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) award to the Telangana government was an endorsement of the successful implementation of the Mission Bhagiratha scheme in the state.

In a statement on Saturday, a senior official of the Union Jal Sakthi ministry said the claim made by the Telangana ministers was misleading and not based on the facts and information given by the statement.

The statement added that there were news reports based on the ministers' statements making false claims, such as the Centre, through the NJJM, has reviewed the Mission Bhagiratha scheme and that each household is getting 100 litres per capita drinking water under the scheme.

"The reports also quoted the ministers as saying that inspection was conducted in 320 randomly selected villages across Telangana and all villages were provided uninterrupted, daily quality drinking water through taps," it added.

Union Jal Sakthi ministry clarified that the department had not carried out any assessment of the Mission Bhagiratha scheme. As per the 'Functionality Assessment 2022' carried out by this department to assess the functionality of tap water connection, the Telangana government was supplying less quantity of drinking water to each household.

"As against the JJM norms of supplying 55 litres per capita per day (lpcd) to each household by maintaining quality as per BIS 10500 standards, the Functionality Assessment data indicates that in Telangana, out of total 12,570 sampled households in 409 villages, 8% of the households were getting less than 55 litres per capita per day of drinking water. Similarly, out of total sampled 5% of households, the water quality was found not to be as per JJM norms," the official said.

The ministry, however, said that Telangana was being given an award on October 2 in the category of supplying regular water to rural households.

Regularity in the water supply is one of the many parameters adopted for overall functionality assessment, the ministry further clarified.

"Although the Telangana state has reported 100% of tap water connections, it has not got it certified through gram panchayats as required under Jal Jeevan Mission," the statement read.

Earlier, a release from CMO stated that the "Mission Bhagiratha" Scheme stood as a role model for the entire country by providing purified drinking water to every house through a tap. (ANI)