Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Erabelli Dayakar Rao criticised the Central government for not responding to the State’s requests to extend financial assistance for the prestigious Mission Bhagiratha.
The initiative won accolades within the country and outside and it had been emulated by several states, which were implementing it with different names. The NITI Ayog had recommended that the Centre sanction ₹19,000 crore to Mission Bhagiratha and the State requested the Centre to extend financial assistance for the project more than once.
“There has been no response from the Centre despite letters written by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and MPs from the State,” he said. The Centre should clarify as to why it had adopted a negligent attitude towards the representations made by the State with regard to Mission Bhagiratha.
The programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gajwel in 2016 and the Mr. Modi appreciated the efficacy of the project and the State government’s initiative during his Mann Ki Baat programmes. Official delegations from different states, including West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka, visited the State to study the implementation of the project that won several awards at the national level.
The Centre had, however, turned a deaf ear to the requests made to at least extend financial assistance to the tune of ₹2,110 crore that would be required for the annual maintenance of the project. The requests of the State were not conceded in spite of the fact that the Central government’s flagship project Jal Jivan Mission drew inspiration from Mission Bhagiratha.
Officials of the Central government visited the State several times to learn about the technology and engineering tools utilised for the project, which had been ranked number one in the country in terms of provision of clean drinking water to all households. The first of its kind project was taken up with an estimated ₹46,123 crore of which 80% funds had been obtained as loans from HUDCO, Nabard and commercial banks.
The government had spent ₹33,400 crore so far and it was estimated that the full project works would be completed by spending another close to ₹5,000 crore. As a result, the State would save ₹8,000 crore. As many as 23,787 habitations were receiving water through Mission Bhagiratha and the remaining 188 habitations would be covered soon.
Of the 18,175 tanks proposed under the project, construction works on 18,076 had been completed and works on the remaining 99 tanks were expected to be completed before this month-end. Simultaneously, works on stabilisation of water supply had been taken up to ensure uninterrupted supply of water.
