Around 100 teams of senior officials will be sent to inspect Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) projects across the country, a report by the Indian Express said. This decision was taken after a review meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretary on May 8.
As per an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training on Monday, 99 nodal officers have been assigned to check 183 projects in 135 districts across 29 states and Union Territories. These projects were reportedly selected at random.
This review comes just two months after a Finance Ministry panel, led by the Expenditure Secretary, suggested a 46% cut in the Water Resources Ministry’s budget request. The ministry had asked for Rs 2.79 lakh crore to complete the mission by December 2028. The Finance Ministry raised concerns about rising project costs and possible overpricing of work contracts in some states.
The issue of cost overrun
The IE report citing sources said that many of the selected projects cost around Rs 1,000 crore each. Together, the 183 projects add up to Rs 1.5 lakh crore — which is about 20% of the total approved spending under the Jal Jeevan Mission since it began.
The government has also raised concerns over the rising costs of providing tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission in various states, regardless of which political party is in power. To get a clearer understanding of the expenses and the quality of work, officials will soon conduct on-site inspections of selected projects.
According to sources, the Ministry has prepared a questionnaire that the officials will use during their visits to collect detailed information on project execution and spending.
Since the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019, states have approved around 6.4 lakh water supply schemes. These projects together have an estimated cost of ₹8.29 lakh crore — more than double the scheme’s original budget of Rs 3.60 lakh crore (with ₹2.08 lakh crore from the Centre and Rs 1.52 lakh crore from the states).
The inspections aim to assess whether the rising costs are justified and if the work done on the ground meets the expected standards.
States where teams will be sent for inspection
The states where the nodal officers will be sent for inspection include Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Odisha, Puducherry, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.