NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over the "woefully" inadequate system to meet the demands of safe and guaranteed drinking water, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the availability of safe drinking water to every habitation would be the key component of the agenda to be delivered in the next four years under the Bharat Nirman programme.

Five-point agenda

Speaking at a conference of State and Union Territory Ministers in charge of rural drinking water supply and rural sanitation here, Dr. Singh chalked out a five-point agenda.

This included the elimination of backlog and the provision of safe water to habitations which were either uncovered or slipped back from full coverage, addressing the problems of water quality, entrusting the responsibility of water supply management, improving the comprehensive management of water supply, strengthening the management of environment and mobilising communities to spread awareness of the linkage between good health and safe water supply.

Dr. Singh urged State Governments to take up sanitation as a challenge for panchayats, educational institutions and campaigns for empowerment of women.

He said the Government had increased the investment in rural development by about 40 per cent over the last year and also reiterated the commitment to sustain the level of investment over the coming years.

"Lacks privacy"

Describing sanitation as the link between water supply and health, Dr. Singh said it was a "shame" that even today our mothers and sisters in much of rural India lacked basic privacy. "This national disgrace must be addressed urgently."

"This year, our government has increased investments in this sector by about 40 per cent over the last year — from Rs. 2, 900 crore to Rs. 4,050 crore. We are committed to sustaining this level of investment over the next few years. We must ensure that the `uncovered' 55,067 habitations are provided with water supply at the earliest.

``Second, we must effectively address the problem of the 2.8-lakh habitations which have slipped out of full coverage for a variety of reasons.

``Third, we have over 2 lakh habitations that are affected by a variety of problems flowing from poor quality of water that is in fact supplied. These include excess fluoride, excess salinity, excess iron and so on," he said.

Two linkages

An important criticism of our water infrastructure was that its growth had not been accompanied by an improvement in the quality of governance of water services, the Prime Minister pointed out. Therefore, we must work together to tackle the problem of water supply, taking into account two linkages. These were with environment management and with our health care system.

Union Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Union Minister of State for Rural Development A. Narendra, Planning Commission member Kirit S. Parikh, Ministers and officials from various States were among those present.

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