Himachal Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes on Tuesday said in its endeavour to provide adequate potable drinking water in rural areas, the State Government had allocated additional funds amounting to Rs25 crore so that the ongoing schemes were completed in time bound manner.
However, she regretted the allocation under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) had been substantially reduced by the Central Government from financial year 2015-16 onwards which was delaying the completion of these schemes in a stipulated time period. Stokes said NRDWP was being implemented in the country to provide every rural person with adequate safe drinking water and funding pattern under this programme was 90:10 percent.
The Minister said despite the financial constraints, the State Government had been allocating adequate funds to ensure that the physical targets to cover the partially covered habitations were achieved in time. She said 264 water supply schemes were being executed under NRDWP which were in the advance stage of completion, as more than 70 per cent work of these schemes stands completed.