Buoyed by the success of eight states including Tamil Nadu and Gujarat in implementing a scheme to provide safe drinking water to rural habitations, the Centre today allocated additional funds to them to give a further boost to the ambitious programme. The states which got bonuses were Tamil Nadu (Rs 98.20 crore), Gujarat (Rs 100 crore), Arunachal Pradesh (61.01 crore), Punjab (Rs 46.82 crore), Assam (Rs 100 crore), Meghalaya (Rs 31.50 crore), Tripura (Rs 30.01 crore) and Haryana (Rs 35 crore). The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has noted that these states had utilised more than 60 per cent of the funds under National Rural Drinking Water Programme till December last year. Announcing the decision, the Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, Mr Jairam Ramesh, expressed hope that the State governments would utilise these additional resources to increase coverage in those habitations which were facing problems of inadequate quantity of drinking water supply. Non-Congress governments are in power in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab and Tripura while Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana are ruled by the Congress. Mr Ramesh said the additional allocations were made “without any bias“. The National Rural Drinking Water Programme aims at providing adequate safe water for drinking, cooking and other domestic basic needs on a sustainable basis. This basic requirement should meet minimum water quality standards and be readily and conveniently accessible at all times and in all situations.