GUWAHATI: The rural drinking water supply under the Central Government’s flagship Bharat Nirman programme has not proved to be a success in Assam in comparison to other States. This was revealed in the Economic Survey 2011-12 presented by the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Parliament before the presentation of the Budget for the 2012-13 financial year on last Friday. The Economic Survey 2011-12 revealed that Assam has so far met less than 50 per cent of the water supply target under the Bharat Nirman programme. States like Sikkim, Punjab, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir have also fared poorly in the rural drinking water supply. But the States of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Uttarakhand have exceeded their water supply targets under the Bharat Nirman, stated the Economic Survey. The Bharat Nirman programme launched in 2005-6 for building infrastructure and basic amenities in rural areas has six components, namely, rural housing, irrigation potential, drinking water, rural roads, electrification and rural telephony. The present status of provision of safe drinking water in rural areas is measured by habitations where the population is fully covered. Information reported by the States revealed that 72 per cent of the rural habitations across the country are fully covered under the safe drinking water supply programme. The rest of the rural habitations are either partially covered or have chemically contaminated drinking water sources. “As against the target of 653,798 habitations during the Eleventh Five Year Plan, the coverage up to March 31, 2011 was 526,667 (80.56 per cent),” stated the Economic Survey 2011-12, adding, “Expenditure for drinking water supply under the Bharat Nirman increased considerably from Rs 4098 crore in 2005-6 to Rs 8500 crore in 2011-12.” In order to give effect to the policy initiatives mentioned in the Eleventh Five Year Plan, the guidelines for the Rural Water Supply Programme were revised in 2009 and renamed as National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP).