New Delhi, Mar 29 (PTI) Over 4 crore rural households in the country have been provided with tap water supply since the Jal Jeevan Mission was launched in August 2019, the Jal Shakti Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Now, 7.24 crore households (38 per cent), that is, more than one-third of the rural households are getting potable water through taps, it said.

Goa has become the first state in the country to provide 100 per cent tap water supply followed by Telangana and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

“Announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2019, with the aim to provide tap water supply to every rural home by 2024, the Jal Jeevan Mission has reached a new milestone of providing over 4 crore rural households with tap water supply,” the statement stated.

The Jal Jeevan Mission is being implemented in partnership with the states to provide potable water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis.

Extensive planning exercise is undertaken by the states/Union territories (UTs) following 'bottom-up approach', it added.

Accordingly, they have firmed up the action plan to provide tap water connection to every rural household.

While implementing the initiative, states are giving priority to water quality-affected areas, villages in drought prone and desert areas, scheduled caste/scheduled tribe majority villages, aspirational districts and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna villages, the statement added.

(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)