In a major achievement for the Yogi Adityanath-led government, Uttar Pradesh on Thursday became the third state in the country in terms of number of tap water connections under Har Ghar Nal Yojana, overtaking Rajasthan.
According to the available statistics, UP has provided 97,11,717 tap connections that are benefitting more than 5,82,70,302 villagers of UP, against 39,33,140 in Rajasthan till Thursday.
With this, more than five crore villagers have started getting pure drinking water under Har Ghar Jal Yojana of Jal Jeevan Mission.
According to Principal Secretary (Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply) Anurag Srivastava, the government's resolve to provide water to every household in UP's 36.59 per cent rural households has been fulfilled whereas in Rajasthan, tap water has reached 36.47 per cent rural households.
In UP, more than 40,000 families are being given tap connections every day, against 5,000 in Rajasthan. Notably, as a result of continuous review of the Har Ghar Jal Yojana by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in the month of February, tap water reached 81 lakh families in UP with the state leaving Jharkhand and West Bengal behind.
According to the official, the Yogi government is taking the Government of India's Jal Jeevan Mission scheme towards the target at the fastest pace and is set to claim the number one position in the country soon.
“Our aim is to provide clean drinking water to the villages, the poor and the farmers at every doorstep,” the official said.
Top five states providing tap connection include Bihar (1,59,10,093 connections), Maharashtra (1,09,98,678 connections), UP (97,11,717 connections), Gujarat (91,18,449 connections) and Tamil Nadu (79,62,581 connections).