Bihar Ranks 4th Among States In Providing Tap Water In Rural Areas

State water resources minister made the averment on his twitter handle, sharing a newspaper report that put Bihar among the "top four" states of the country in terms of availability of tap water to rural households.

Bihar has emerged as one of the top performing states in terms of providing safe drinking water through taps, with 87 per cent of its rural households having access to the amenity, a key aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Wednesday but insisted it was largely on account of a state scheme and not the Centre's Jal Jeevan Mission. State water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha made the averment on his official twitter handle, sharing a newspaper report that put Bihar among the "top four" states of the country in terms of availability of tap water to rural households. The report was based on data provided by the website of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), an ambitious project of the Narendra Modi government launched two years back which aims at providing tap water to all rural households by 2024. According to the JJM data, Bihar, often accused of administrative lethargy, accounts for 1.46 crore water connections out of 4.73 crore for the entire country, placing it well above the national average of 41.57 per cent since the launch of the mission in 2019.