The Narendra Modi government is set to launch a new flagship programme to provide piped water supply and tap connections to all households in urban areas with less than one lakh population, reports The Economic Times.

Named as Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban), the union government is expected to earmark Rs 1.35 lakh crore for the mission which will be implemented over the next five years.

The Union Budget for 2021-22 may include this mission and the housing and urban affairs ministry would be the nodal agency.

Households in almost 4,000 towns with less than one lakh population will be provided with piped tap water connections.

“There was an existent planning gap as far as the towns with less than 100,000 population were concerned. While the villages had been covered by Jal Jeevan Mission, housing and urban affairs ministry had covered towns with 100,000 population and above in Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) under which sewer networks and water projects are being undertaken. But there had been no planning for towns with less than 100,000 population,” a senior official told The Economic Times.

Presently, Modi government is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission with a goal to provide safe and adequate drinking water to all households in rural India by 2024 through individual household tap connections.

India has around 19 crore households. But as of August 2019, just 3.2 crore households have piped water connection. With Jal Jeevan Mission - Har Ghar Jal, the number of households with tap water connections has doubled to almost 6.3 crore.