New Delhi, Jul 2 (IANS): Over 95 per cent of the rural population in Haryana have access to potable drinking water through domestic tap connection, the Centre said on Friday.

The Union government said that Haryana is making significant contributions towards the success of the Jal Jeevan Mission, a Central government scheme aimed at providing potable drinking water to every rural household of the country by 2024.

After recently attaining ‘Har Ghar Jal' status for Bhiwani, Sonipat and Charkhi Dadri districts, 12 out of the 22 districts in Haryana have now achieved the 100 per cent target under this mission.

The nine other districts which have already achieved the ‘Har Ghar Jal' target are Ambala, Faridabad, Gurugram, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Panipat and Rohtak.

Apart from this, six out of the remaining 10 districts have also achieved more than 98 per cent of the target and they are expected to be declared as ‘Har Ghar Jal' districts shortly, the government said.

Expressing happiness over achieving the 100 per cent target in Bhiwani, Sonipat and Charkhi Dadri, the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Rattan Lal Kataria, said, "100 per cent target in all the districts of the state shall be met sooner than the 2024 deadline."

"In the current financial year (2021-22), the Ministry of Jal Shakti has allotted Rs 1,152.19 crore to Haryana, of which the first installment of Rs 256.81 crore has already been released to the state," Kataria added.

The Jal Jeevan Mission was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2019 to provide drinking water through functional tap water connection to every rural household of the country by 2024.

So far, 100 per cent target has been achieved in Goa, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. In total, 67 districts of the country have been fully covered till date under this scheme.