Telangana achieves 'pipe' dream, gives tap water to all schools

Telangana added another feather in its cap by becoming one among the handful of States in the country to provide tap water supply to all schools and anganwadis in the State. Five other States achieved this -- Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

Last year, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the 100-day Special Campaign to ensure piped safe water to all schools and anganwadis under the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS).

According to the data provided by the Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard of the MoJS, Telangana has provided tap water connections to all the 22,882 schools and 27,310 anganwadis in the State. Before the start of the 100-day campaign, 18,623 schools and 22,211 anganwadis had tap water connections. Nalgonda has the highest share of schools and anganwadis among all districts -- 1,401 and 1,573, respectively.

However, the construction of rainwater harvesting structures at the schools and anganwadis, envisaged as part of the special programme, continues to lag. According to the data, rainwater structures have been constructed in only 1,213 schools and 368 anganwadis in Telangana.

Previously, the State had become the only one, along with Goa, to provide functional household tap connections to all households. According to the data provided by the Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard, Telangana has provided tap water connections to all 54,06,070 households in the State. This number stood at just 15,68,301 households around three years ago, in August, 2019.