Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance audit on drinking water services in Himachal Pradesh
The steady increase in human population, widespread technological modernization, new and unsustainable lifestyle have invited and aggravated the problem of water scarcity. The right to access to drinking water is fundamental to life. The constitutional right to access to clean drinking water has been drawn from the right to food which has been protected under the broad heading of right to life guaranteed under the Constitution. The state of Himachal Pradesh is richly endowed with a hilly terrain having an enormous volume of water from the catchment areas of Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Yamuna and Chenab rivers. The requirement of water in the State was 454.53 million litres per day (MLD) (Rural: 384.32 MLD and Urban: 70.21 MLD) during 1999 and was projected to increase to 726.46 MLD (Rural: 575.97 MLD and Urban: 150.49 MLD) during 2021. Keeping in view the significance of providing adequate and safe drinking water to the people, a Performance Audit on Drinking Water Services in Himachal Pradesh was conducted for the period 2016-21.
