New Delhi, April 22 (IANS): The government is committed to provide clean drinking water to its rural populace, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

"We are committed to providing piped water to 90 percent of our villages and tap water to 80 percent to our villages. We must provide quality water to our population," Singh said in his reply to a discussion in the house on demand for grants for the department of drinking water and sanitation.

"I agree with the entire house that money allocated to this department is less, but we are depending on other sources for the 'Clean India Campaign'," he said.

"I request all members to ask their state government to use external funding for this. I assure that my ministry would help them get it," he said.

Singh said not only the Ganga but other rivers were equally important and his ministry would work towards keeping them clean.

Participating in the debate, Congress member Abhijit Mukherjee said: "The total allocation for the department has been reduced by more than 50 percent. With this reduced budget, I don't know how the government will complete its target of cleaning India by 2019."

BJP MP from Delhi Meenakshi Lekhi said the capital has been kept out of the UPA's 'Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan' scheme as it was not a rural area.

"Most slum children in Delhi defecate in the open and urban sanitation remains a neglected area," she said.