An ambitious scheme, involving the World Bank, is being packaged for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to unveil on his birthday on December 25. Called Swajaldhara, it aims to bring drinking water to every village home in the country by 2004.At a meeting held today, the two Ministers of Rural Development were upbeat about the scheme but states complained that it was hurriedly envisaged and would go the way of earlier such schemes—down the drain.But this project is different from the existing schemes in two key ways: the community will have to contribute 10 per cent of the cost and panchayats will have to own, operate and maintain the water sources created for them.So far, the paperwork has moved in record time. By mid-November, letters reached all state ministers asking them to submit proposals from each district. Today, a meeting of all ministers was addressed by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. By December 10, they are supposed get back to the Centre with the 10 per cent money.This schedule has a purpose. ‘‘(The day) the PM announces the scheme, we want the districts to start the project so that it does not remain a scheme on paper,’’ says Shanta Kumar, Minister for Rural Development and the man behind the project.Swajaldhara is an extension of the Sector Reforms Project introduced in 67 districts with an outlay of Rs 2,060 crore. State Ministers point out that this project has been a non-starter—of the Rs 590 crore of the share of the Centre, only Rs 180 crore was utilised. Districts could collect only Rs 35 lakh from ‘‘public participation.’’Several apprehensions were raised today: What to do in states like Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, there’s no water for miles; do panchayats have the ability to take on the responsibility? Will there be over-exploitation of groundwater?Another is money. ‘‘So far we have provided free water, now 10 per cent works out to be a substantial sum. The poorest of poor who do not have access so far cannot be expected to pay,’’ says C P Joshi, Minister for Planning in Rajasthan government.But Shanta Kumar is confident. ‘‘The power of people is like a sleeping tiger and has to be woken up,’’ he says, ‘‘I am confident that people will give more than 10%. It is the 90% that we have to think of.’’And what he has thought of is this: Rs 900 crore from the Planning Commission, Rs 500 crore from Central funds, ‘‘the rest can be managed by associating agencies like the World Bank.’’Similar projects like the Accelerated Rural Water Supply programme have met with partial success. ‘‘The fact is that states do not put in their share of 50 per cent,’’ said Anna M K Patil, Minister for State for Rural Development. So in this project, the state has been bypassed and panchayats made the implementing authority.
