The Union government has allocated Rs 5,000 crore to Karnataka for the year 2021-22 under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Jal Shakti Ministry said on Friday, July 8. The state had received Rs 1,189 crore under the same in the last financial year. The four-fold increase in the allocation is intended to help the state provide tap water supply in every rural household in Karnataka by 2023, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said. "The Union government has increased the central grant to Karnataka under the Jal Jeevan Mission in the year 2021-22 to Rs 5,008.79 crore, which was Rs 1,189.40 crore in 2020-21," the ministry said in a statement.

The Jal Jeevan mission aims to provide tap water connections to every rural household by 2024. In Karnataka, out of 91.19 lakh households, 29.96 lakh households (32.86%) have been provided with tap water connections. On August 15 2019, at the time of the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission, 24.51 lakh (26.88%) households had tap water supply.

In 22 months, only 5.44 lakh households in Karnataka have been provided tap water connections. The state has planned to provide tap water connections to 25.17 lakh households in 2021-22, 17.93 lakh tap water connections in 2022-23 and the remaining 19.93 lakh tap water connections in 2023-24 to achieve tap water supply for every rural household, the ministry said.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, in his letter to Minister Shekhawat, has assured 100% coverage with tap water connection to every household of the state by 2023.

At the start of the mission in 2019, out of a total of 19.20 crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 crore (17%) had tap water supply. During the last 22 months, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown disruptions, the Jal Jeevan Mission has been implemented with speed, and 4.42 crore households have been provided with piped connections, the ministry’s statement said. With the increase in coverage by 23.36% presently 7.66 crore (40.5%) rural households across the country have tap water supply.