Waking up to the menace of water contamination and unabated cases of Japanese Encephalitis (JE), the Centre has decided to undertake a pilot project in 60 districts spread over five states where `525 crores will be spent in 2012-13 to improve the quality of water. The Centre has also agreed to sign an agreement with the World Bank for a $500 million worth grant for expansion of rural drinking water.

“After decades of witnessing cases of Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis (AE) in some of the states, we have decided to improve the quality of drinking water, with an initial allocation of `525 crores.