Kolkata, Mar 9 (PTI) Union Jal Sakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday said the West Bengal government has managed to achieve only 19 per cent of the target coverage of the Jal Jeevan Mission, and threatened that the Centre will stop releasing funds under the scheme if the states make any attempt to change the name of the programme.

The reason behind the poor performance of the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal is lack of commitment to supply clean water to people rather than politics, Shekhawat said.

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The Union minister who was here to attend a meeting to review the progress of Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen said, "The West Bengal government has achieved just 19 per cent of the target coverage, while the national average is 48 per cent."

He alleged that the West Bengal government was unable to utilize the fund allocated to it.

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"The West Bengal government has utilised only Rs 1060 crore out of Rs 2160 crore allocated to it in the current fiscal. In the previous years also, the state has not been unable to utilise funds. It is not proper to say that the Centre does not provide funds," Shekhawat said.

He warned of holding back the funds if the name of the programme is changed by any state. The Centre provides 50 per cent of the project cost and a matching fund has to come from state governments.

There are allegations that several state governments rechristen the Centre's schemes and claim them as their own.

"There is no dearth of funds for implementation of the two flagship programmes of the government, as for the year 2022-23, Rs 14,449 crore has been allocated as Central grant to the six participating states for ensuring 100 per cent tap water connectivity, sustaining solid and liquid waste management in villages,” Shekhawat said.

When Jal Jeevan Mission was launched in 2019, only 17 per cent of rural households had access to tap water connections, he said.

"Despite disruptions and lockdown in the last two and a half years, we have managed to provide more than 5.91 crore tap water connections and 47.39 per cent of households in villages are now benefitting from the project," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)