Guidelines Govern ARWSP Allocations: Raghuvansh

New Delhi, Mar 14 (UNI) Despite target-slippages in the past, the Government would spare no efforts to ensure availability of drinking water in all villages countrywide by 2009, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh assured the Rajya Sabha today.

In this context, the Centre had recently lowered considerably the input-ratio that the respective States had to contribute towards centrally-sponsored programmes, the Minister said.

Where States were earlier expected to contribute 25 per cent to the Centre's 75 per cent, they would now have to give only 10 per cent -- the Centre contributing the lion's share of the remaining 90 per cent.

And even where the ratio was earlier split fifty-fifty, it had now been lowered to 25:75 -- States giving 25 per cent and the Centre the remaining 75 per cent.

However, despite such enabling-measures, several states found it difficult to chip in with their share and schemes aimed at providing drinking water in rural areas suffered, the Minister told Messrs Kalraj Mishra (BJP) and Karnendu Bhattacharjee (Congress) during the Question Hour.

Asom and some other North-Eastern states -- facing financial stringency -- had sought further lowering of their respective contribution to some centrally-sponsored programmes in this regard.

The Minister said -- based on the inter-state allocation criteria -- a total amount of Rs 764.90 crore had been allocated by the Centre for drinking water supply programmes in Asom during the Tenth Plan Period (2002-03 to 2006-07).

He further made clear that allocations under the centrally- sponsored programme Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) were made on the basis of certain guidelines approved by the central Government and not on the basis of request or project proposals received from state Governments.

UNI