Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express article.

The State Government has targeted to complete 1,000 piped water supply projects under the ‘Jaldhara’ initiative to provide safe drinking water in the current financial year.

The ‘Jaldhara’ initiative is a major shift from hand pump tube-wells to pipe water supply scheme to ensure sustainable drinking water supply in rural areas. …

The Minister said 1,797 pipe water supply projects were proposed for 2007-08 out of which 1,153 projects have been completed and 28 more projects are under construction.

It is also proposed to construct overhead reservoir for all the piped water supply projects to ensure uninterrupted supply and improved services to rural people. With the availability of Rs 294 cr for accelerated rural water supply projects, the Government had proposed to cover 6,381 habitations in the current fiscal and by July-end 2,431 habitations have been covered.

The Minister said all the habitations having a population of more than 100 will be covered under Jaldhara.