New Delhi, December 25
On the occasion of his 78th birthday, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee launched an ambitious scheme, “Swajaldhara”, aimed at providing drinking water to all villages in the country by 2004.

Launching the scheme of the Union Rural Development Ministry from his official residence here through video-conferencing with functions being held at three villages in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, Mr Vajpayee hoped that “Swajaldhara” would usher in a revolution in the countryside.

In this context, he pointed out that the government had undertaken the massive task of linking of all major rivers in the country to ensure that water does not go waste.

The Prime Minister appealed to all political parties for cooperating with the government on the project as it was a national one.

Inaugurating Andhra Pradesh’s “Swajaldhara” scheme at a village in Adilabad district through video-conferencing, Mr Vajpayee said the Centre’s share for these projects was being released at the earliest. These schemes are implemented with 90 per cent central and 10 per cent states’ contribution. The Prime Minister was happy that with this scheme, rural women would save a lot of time and spend it in a better and more useful way on their family. Till now, they are fetching water from far-off places.

The Prime Minister also assured the villagers at Malkup in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra that the Centre was ready to help rural people get safe drinking water.

The third scheme inaugurated by the Prime Minister was in the rural Lucknow area. Mr Vajpayee said it was the happiest moment of his life that he could see and hear from the villagers about the usefulness of this scheme.

The Prime Minister also exchanged greetings with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati who presided over the function at Lucknow.

Rural Development Minister Shanta Kumar said in the first phase, the scheme would be operationalised in 883 villages with the Centre earmarking Rs 87 crore for the purpose.