Sundra village in Rajasthan's Barmer district, located barely a few kilometres from the India-Pakistan international border, has, for the first time since Independence, started receiving clean drinking water through household tap connections. The milestone, recorded in the Jal Jeevan Mission's December 2024 bulletin after taps began flowing in Sundra on 24 November 2024, is the culmination of a ₹513 crore Narmada-based drinking water project that brings Sardar Sarovar Dam water all the way from Gujarat over a distance of 728 kilometres to the Thar desert. Sundra, established in 1734, was once one of the largest Gram Panchayats in India, spanning nearly 1,345 square kilometres, and lies about 170 km from Barmer district headquarters. For decades, residents traveled 15 to 20 km on camels or foot to fetch potable water, while local groundwater remained highly saline and unfit for human or livestock consumption; even government tube wells had failed. The new scheme, executed by the Rajasthan Public Health Engineering Department under the Jal Jeevan Mission framework, includes 16 Central Water Reservoirs, more than 80 Elevated Service Reservoirs and multiple pumping stations along the transmission alignment. It is designed to supply drinking water to over 200 villages in Barmer and adjoining areas. The project is a significant achievement of desert water management and national integration, as it links the waters of the Narmada in central India to the parched border hamlets of the Thar, easing health burdens on women and children, reducing distress migration and improving quality of life for communities that had waited 77 years for piped water.