The Narendra Modi government on Saturday called the bluff of the Telangana government’s claim that its flagship programme Misssion Bhagiratha was the role model for the entire country and it was appreciated by the centre itself.
The claim was made by Telangana ministers T Harish Rao and Errabelli Dayakar Rao at a press conference on Friday.
They said the announcement of National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) award to the Telangana government was an endorsement to the successful implementation of Mission Bhagiratha scheme in the state.
However, a senior official of the Union Jal Sakthi ministry on Saturday said the claim made by the Telangana minsters was misleading and not based on the facts and information given by the statement.
The official said there were news reports based on the ministers’ statement 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 capital 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.
The official of the Union Jal Sakthi ministry clarified that the department had not carried out any assessment of Mission Bhagiratha scheme.
As per the ‘Functionality Assessment 2022’ carried out by this department to assess 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.
He, however, said the Telangana was being given award on October 2 in the category of supplying regular water to rural households. However, regularity in water supply is one of the many parameters adopted for overall functionality assessment, he said.
It may also be noted although the Telangana state has reported 100% of tap water connections, but it has not got it certified through gram panchayats as required under Jal Jeevan Mission, the official added.