Agartala, 27th August 2026 : ‘Tripura has covered 86.52 per cent of its total households with piped drinking water connections, marking a substantial expansion from the 3.24 per cent coverage recorded when the Jal Jeevan Mission was launched in 2019, Chief Minister Prof Dr Manik Saha told the Assembly on Thursday.
Dr Saha said that, out of the state’s 7,50,449 households, 6,47,437 had received pipeline connections as of August 20, 2026. He was responding to a question raised by BJP MLA Jahar Chakraborti during the 10th session of the 13th Tripura Legislative Assembly.
The Chief Minister said 1,91,106 rural families had been brought under safe drinking water coverage during the last three years, with the facility extended to 1,193 Gram Panchayats and Village Committees.
He said the state had started from a low base under the Jal Jeevan Mission, with only 3.24 per cent of rural households having piped water connections in 2019. By August 20, 2023, the number of beneficiary families had risen to 1,51,135.
The issue of gaps in water supply came up through a supplementary question from TMP MLA Ranjit Debbarma, who drew attention to the water crisis in parts of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, particularly Mungiyakami Block. He sought faster intervention to address the problem in tribal-dominated and remote areas.
In response, Dr Saha said the government was aware of the difficulties in specific pockets of the ADC. He pointed out that the geographical conditions of many hilly areas made conventional water-supply systems difficult to implement, particularly where natural water sources were unavailable and drilling tube wells was not feasible.
According to the Chief Minister, the government was therefore turning to alternative solutions, including drawing water from streams and springs and pumping it to higher elevations, besides installing deep and shallow tube wells and water treatment plants.
Dr Saha said water coverage in ADC areas had reached an average of 80 per cent, although the level differed from village to village, with some areas achieving 100 per cent coverage.
He expressed confidence that the remaining households would also be brought under the piped water network soon, with the government targeting universal household coverage across both ADC areas and Gram Panchayats, including remote and marginalised settlements.
