The West Bengal government is set to provide drinking water connection to every rural household in the state by 2024, Public Health Engineering (PHE) Minister Pulak Roy said in the assembly on Wednesday.
Roy said the state has already provided water connection to more than 62 lakh families in 2023 through the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme. By March 2024, every household in the countryside will be provided quality drinking water, he said.
He said the state government has 144 laboratories to test the quality of water, adding that both the PHE department and the panchayats are working together to fulfill this task.
Under the scheme, 50 per cent of the cost is borne by the Centre while the rest is provided by the state. Besides, the state government also bears the maintenance costs of establishments which are implementing the scheme, he said.
In a reply to another query, he said of the 296 tea gardens in the state, 103 will be provided water connection in 2023 and the rest by next year.
Roy said awareness has to be built among people to prevent them from taking water connections which are not authorised.
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