As per the plan, an estimate of over 15 crore rural households will be provided with tap water

The government has firmed up its plan to provide tap water to every rural household by 2024 under the Jal Jeevan Mission, sources said on Tuesday.

An official announcement to this effect could be made in the next few days, they said.

"Nal se Jal" is the flagship scheme of the NDA-2 government for which the newly-created Jal Shakti Ministry will work with the states to implement it.

As per the plan, an estimate of over 15 crore of the 18.5 crore rural households will be provided with tap water, the sources said. The rest already have access to tap water.

Since every state and region has its own peculiar needs, the scheme will not be straight jacket and will have flexibility.

The scheme is learnt to have come up for discussion in the meeting of the Union Cabinet this morning, but there was no official word.

In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the Jal Shakti Ministry will work with states to ensure that every rural house gets water by 2024 under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

The scheme is likely to attract massive investments in the field of water and sanitation in the coming years.

The Jal Shakti Ministry was formed by merging the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation when the Modi government returned to power.