The Hindu : `Govt. overstating water-supply coverage'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 08, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

`Govt. overstating water-supply coverage'

By T.S. Ranganna

Bangalore Dec. 7. The Agricultural Finance Corporation, which conducted a survey on the availability of clean drinking water-supply facilities in the rural areas in the State in 2000, reported that there were 2,386 habitations not covered (NC) under any programme and 22,980 habitations only partially covered (PC).

According to the survey, though 83 per cent of the habitations were reportedly covered under the rural water-supply (RWS) programme as of March 2001, four per cent of the total habitations came under the NC category and 41 per cent under the PC category. The re-emergence of NC habitations affected the impact of the programme.

The RWS programme failed to ensure adequate safe drinking water though funds were not a constraint. The Government spent Rs. 1,593 crore since 1985 on the programme, according to the audit report (civil) of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India for 2000-2001.

The Centre had directed the State Government in 1997 to cover all the NC habitations by 1998-99 and PC habitations by 2000. Against this target, the State Government reportedly covered all the NC habitations by November 2000. However, even as of March 2001, only 11,131 habitations (59 per cent) out of 18,960 PC habitations had been covered.

According to the CAG report, there are 56,682 rural habitations in the State and, as of November 2000, 3.35 crore people had been covered under the RWS programme. The report said that the Engineer-in-Chief (EIC), Rural Development Department, had stated that there were no NC habitations in the State as of November 2000.

As per the year-wise details of coverage of NC and PC habitations reported to the Centre by the State Government during 1997-2001, only 11,131 habitations were covered. Analysing the figures given by the State Government, the CAG said that its claim of having covered all the NC habitations was not true and it was "over-reporting" its achievements.

Further, the EIC did not have reliable information on physical achievements, as he reported different figures to different agencies. The details of coverage of NC and PC habitations as included in the annual reports of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department, another report compiled by EIC in December 2000 for submission to the State Government, and those furnished for audit were "grossly at variance" with the physical achievements reported to the Centre.

The CAG also said that the physical achievements in test-checked districts during the period also differed widely from the achievements reported in the annual reports of the RDPR Department. Thus, the reliability of the reports was doubtful. The variation was 22 to 53 per cent under piped water-supply (PWS) schemes, 20 to 37 per cent under mini water-supply (MWS) schemes, and four to 35 per cent under the borewells with hand-pumps category.

According to the norms fixed by the State Government, villages/habitations with population exceeding 500 and below 1,000 should be provided with an MWS scheme and those with population exceeding 1,000 should be provided with a PWS scheme. However, as of March 2001, 755 PWS and 1,794 MWS schemes were commissioned in villages where the population was less than the norms.

Nine zilla panchayat engineering divisions took up 267 PWS and 314 MWS schemes at a cost of Rs. 13.01 crore during 1997-2001 in habitations that were already fully covered. The zilla panchayats irregularly included the schemes in the annual action plans disregarding the norms. Thus, the amount was spent on non-priority areas.

Similarly, all rural schools were to be provided with drinking water by 2002. However, the State Government did not fix a target for coverage of rural schools under the programme.

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