• For Rs 1.9 crore, three deep tubewells and a distribution network were set up in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. Six years on, these wells supply arsenic-laced water to 14000 villagers.

• A water-testing lab costing Rs 18.88 lakh in Raipur is being used as a guest house.

• All 18 defluorination plants in sampled in Karnataka were not working for periods ranging up to 32 months.

• Rs 3.36 crore of Rs 4.2 crore given to Jharkhand to tackle fluoride and arsenic in drinking water was surrendered by the government unused last year.

• Only 13 of the 30 defluorination plants are working in Madhya Pradesh despite increase in fluoride-affected sources.

And the list goes on and on.

As per the CAG’s audit of the UPA’s showpiece Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission — meant to provide safe drinking water to villages across the country.

Not only are there several examples of corruption, fraud and waste, as reported in The Indian Express today, even where water is available, there is a huge question mark over its quality.

Key reason: many states have done little by way of setting up labs at state and district levels meant to monitor water quality, an integral element of the programme.

By the government’s own admission, as per November 2007 data, barely a quarter of habitations have access to safe water: only 54,442 habitations get safe drinking water as against a target of 2.16 lakh. This when the Bharat Nirman programme — under which the water supply scheme falls — is into well over 1000 days.

... contd.