The State of Uttarakhand despite being in the category of special State is deprived of 90:10 funding from the Central Government which the North-eastern States get. The Minister of drinking water Mantri Prasad Naithani said this while addressing a national level review meeting of ministers and secretaries at Vigyan Bhawan on Thursday.
Raising the issue of supply of potable water to the people of state Naithani said the rural areas of the state need to be supplied drinking water @ 70 lPCD. The central government should increase the funding to the sate in view of adverse climatic conditions. Under the new guideline of NRDWP the household sustainability has given way to the community rain water harvesting. Naithani said that this guideline should be amended so that involvement of every household in rain water harvesting is ensured.
The minister of Drinking water said that the projects worth Rs 800 crore in the state are approved under NRDWP out of which projects of Rs 300 crore are in various stages of approval. He said that the projects for providing drinking water to the slum dwellings need more central assistance. The minister informed the meeting that many women groups are active in all the villages of the state which are contributing to the developmental programes of the Village panchayats.
The review meeting was chaired by Union cabinet minister for rural development, drinking water and sanitation Birendra Singh.