Question : Additional Assistance for Safe Drinking Water

(a) whether the Union Government has any proposal for Special Annual Assistance/Additional Annual Assistance to the States where the drinking water situation is very worse;

(b) if so, the details thereof including the funds proposed to be provided to each State and Union Territory and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c) whether any proposal from State Governments are pending for special annual assistance/additional annual assistance/one time assistance to various States including Bihar to provide safe drinking water to the people; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the steps proposed to be taken thereon,
State-wise?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
(SHRI RAMESHCHANDAPPA JIGAJINAGI)
(a) to (d): Under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), this Ministry allocates funds to the States / UTs based on the pre-approved criteria which includes weightage for Rural population, Rural SC and ST population, States under Desert Development Programme(DDP), Drought Prone Area Programme(DPAP), Hill Area Development Programme(HADP) and special category Hill States in terms of rural areas and rural population managing rural drinking water supply schemes weighted by a Management Devolution Index(MDI).
There is no provision in the guidelines to allocate funds for Special Annual Assistance/Additional Annual Assistance to the States where the drinking water situation is very worse. However, this Ministry retains 2% of NRDWP funds for providing assistance to States / UTs to mitigate drinking water problems in the rural areas in the wake of natural calamities after due recommendations of High Level Committee (HLC) headed by Hon’ble Union Home Minister.