Patna: Bihar has made remarkable progress in providing clean drinking water to its residents, with 99.20% of urban and rural households now covered under the ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal Yojana’. It is one of the key initiatives under the Cheif Minister’s 7 Nischay Yojana.
Apart from ensuring the smooth implementation of this scheme, the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has also established a swift complaint resolution system to address water supply issues in the shortest possible time.
Through the CGRC system, PHED received 70,343 complaints related to water supply from various districts. Out of these, 69,774 complaints have been successfully resolved, ensuring restoration of water supply.
Additionally, 31,585 complaints related to the construction and operation of the scheme were registered, of which 31,292 have been resolved. Furthermore, out of 38,758 complaints concerning schemes transferred from the Panchayati Raj Department, 38,487 have been successfully addressed.
Under this initiative, all urban households have been connected to the water supply network. By September 2024, clean drinking water had been made available in 1,13,874 rural wards and 203 urban wards out of a total of 1,14,050 in the state.
So far, 18.47 lakh families have received tap water connections, while only 75,000 families are yet to be connected. However, 4,000 families have declined the tap water connection. At the local body and Budko levels, 3,370 wards out of 3,398 have been covered under the scheme.
Currently, more than 1.74 crore households across Bihar are receiving tap water supply. To ensure timely action on grievances, PHED has introduced a toll-free helpline where citizens can report issues related to the scheme. By February 2025, a total of 4,511 complaints had been registered through the toll-free numbers 1800-123-1121, 1800-345-1121, and 155367. In addition, 2,237 complaints have been received via the Swachh Neer App and WhatsApp numbers 8544429024 and 8544429082.
Meanwhile, 4,297 complaints have been recorded in the district control room, 4,083 complaints on the web portal, and 466 complaints via email. Altogether, 15,722 complaints have been registered across all platforms, of which 14,295 have already been resolved, ensuring that the affected households receive a functional water supply.
