The Centre released some funds for the Swajal Dhara drinking water scheme in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh in April 2004. The money has remained in the bank and has earned an interest of Rs 4.8 lakh. Yet the scheme is still to take off. But for once, it is not official tardiness, only the tedious implementation process, that is to blame for the delay. The Centre-funded schemes under the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Drinking Water Supply Mission involve the participation of villagers and NGOs. Finding the right NGOs for the project and getting the villagers to pitch in have hobbled the project after it was cleared in 2004-5. The funds for the so-called "mini piped drinking-water supply scheme' were released in March last year after their approval in 2004. The schemes in 22 villages of Sonbhadra district are in various stages of implementation and are likely to be commissioned in the next few months. The scheme entails the boring of tubewells, construction of overhead tanks and laying of pipelines over distances of up to 1 km in the villages. The implementation is a complicated process that starts with the selection of an NGO. The NGO is responsible for the preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR). The NGO then persuades the villagers to deposit their share of the funding--20 per cent of the total scheme cost. The NGO then facilitates the opening of saving bank accounts by the villagers and the setting up f the "Village Water and Sanitation Committee', which will be responsible for managing the scheme. The DPR prepared by the NGO is then sent to the State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) in Lucknow for approval. The SWSM does the costing and prepares the funding plan for each village scheme. "A sum of Rs 1.23 crore for the Swajal Dhara scheme was released in April 2004 and deposited in the bank and we have earned an interest of Rs 4.8 lakh on it,' says Ved Pal Singh, District Development Officer of the Rural Development Department, the implementing agency. "But it took a long time to select the NGO and to get the villagers to contribute their share for the water-supply scheme.' While funds for 2004-5 schemes were sanctioned last year, money for 2005-6 was doled out in February 2008. The Centre has provided Rs 2.43 crore for the 32 village panchayats whose DPRs were approved from the 77 that had been submitted . But so far only 12 panchayats have deposited their share of the funding and these have received the full grant for the schemes. With mobilisation of the villager's contribution either in cash or labour proving roadblock, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to discontinue the scheme from this year.