Launching a veiled attack on the Opposition parties while addressing the ‘Har Ghar Jal Utsav’ event held in Goa virtually, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for a long-term approach for nation-building, saying that those who are not bothered about the country only talk big but can’t work with a big vision for water security.

Modi said that seven crore households in the country have been given piped water in just three years under the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ mission, “whereas in seven decades since Independence, only three crore households had this facility”.

Under the mission, all rural households are to be provided with clean piped water.

“It is true that to form a government, one does not have to work that hard as one has to work to build a country. We have all chosen to work for nation-building. That is why we are working on the challenges of the present and the future. Those who do not care about the country, are not bothered about spoiling the present or future of the country. Such people can definitely talk big, but can never work with a big vision for water,” the Prime Minister said.

He further said, “There were about 16 crore rural households in the country, who had to depend on outside sources for water. We could not have left such a large population of the village fighting for this basic need. That’s why three years ago I had announced from the Red Fort that every house would get piped water. Rs 3.60 lakh crore are being spent on this campaign and despite the interruptions caused by the biggest epidemic of 100 years, the pace of this campaign did not slow down. The result of this continuous effort is that in just three years, the country has done more than double the work done in seven decades. This is an example of the same human-centred development, which I talked about this time from the Red Fort.”

Modi congratulated Goa for becoming the first ‘Har Ghar Jal’ certified state where every household is connected to piped water. He also acknowledged Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu as first Union territories to achieve the feat.