New Delhi, September 12 (H.S.): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, referring to a newspaper report on claims regarding contaminated water in Gujarat, took a swipe at the government, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims of providing “Har Ghar Jal” (water to every household) had been washed away in contaminated water.

In a post on X on Saturday, Kharge said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been in power in Gujarat for decades, yet nine out of 10 water samples were found to be unfit for drinking. He claimed that when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the “Sujalam-Sufalam” scheme was promoted in 2004, but even today, the people of Gujarat were struggling for every drop of water.

The Congress president said that after Modi became Prime Minister, the same promises were carried forward through the Jal Jeevan Mission. Citing a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), he claimed that the Gujarat government’s 2022 claim of providing 100 per cent tap-water connections had also been exposed, with nearly 1.4 million households still waiting for water.

Kharge also referred to reports of contaminated water in Dholka in Ahmedabad district. He claimed that a report had emerged only last week stating that 54 people had died of cancer allegedly as a result of consuming contaminated water. He said that areas such as Rajkot and Jamnagar in Saurashtra were still struggling for access to drinking water, while farmers in Kutch-Saurashtra continued to grapple with drought.

He accused the government of showing the people of Gujarat the dream of a “Viksit Bharat” (Developed India) by 2047 while spending the past 28 years only on publicity. Instead of providing relief from genuine problems, he alleged, people had been misled through false publicity and glossy images.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar