Jal Jeevan Mission In Chhattisgarh In Deep Waters As Taps Run Dry

In Ruda village of Chhattisgarh's Durg district, a towering iron structure meant to bring clean drinking water now stands rusting under the sun. Built as part of the Centre's ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission, the skeletal frame of a water tank is complete, but the tank itself is missing. There is no water, no supply, just a hollow structure and a community still walking miles for a basic necessity.

"Sometimes we climb it to see pigeons," a child from the village told NDTV.

Executive Engineer Utkarsh Pandey, Public Health Engineering (PHE) Durg, told NDTV that Rs 65.38 lakh had been sanctioned under the Jal Jeevan Mission for Ruda. Of that, Rs 10.98 lakh was earmarked for the zinc-aluminium alloy tank of 35,000-litre capacity, raised on a 12-meter staging. After nearly three years, the tank hasn't been installed. "No payments have been made yet. The contractor will be paid only after 100 per cent households get functional tap water," Mr Pandey clarified.

Villagers tell a different story. Pipes were laid, roads were built over them, and now they may have to be dug again just to redo a system that was never operational. "It's not a construction site anymore, it's a permanent symbol of neglect," said Bhuvanesh Sahu, a resident. Another villager Aishwarya Deshmukh added, "We tell delivery people, come to the tankless structure, they always find us."

Almost 200 kilometres away in Narayanpur, a tank has been completed and taps have been installed under a Rs 1.19 crore project. But for over a year, not a single drop has flowed. Women still walk kilometres daily to handpumps, while the taps serve as hitching posts for cattle. "Forget Jal Jeevan Mission, it's more like 'Tap-Cow Mission' now," said a villager.

In Rajnandgaon, only 170 of 610 villages have certified household water supply. Many tank projects never started, tenders were cancelled, and the district administration is issuing warnings to non-performing contractors. Collector Dr Sarveshwar Narendra Bhure confirmed, "Non-compliant contractors are being blacklisted, and their security amounts are being forfeited."

In Mahuapara village of Korea district, a tank stands unfinished inside a school compound without barricades. "Children climb it like it's a fair," says Anganwadi worker Sonavati Rajwade, fearful of a possible accident. Taps near the local MLA's house too have no water.

Even as the government claims 31 lakh families now have access to water, questions were raised in the Assembly. "Your double engine government is pulling in opposite directions," said former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, criticising the PHE department's pace.

In response, Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao blamed the previous Congress government "We found that 15 lakh tap connections were only 'entries', with no actual water. We are now correcting that."

Jal Jeevan Mission aimed to provide tap water to 49.98 lakh families across 29,000 projects in Chhattisgarh by December 2023. As of January 2024, 15 lakh families had tap connections but no water. The deadline is now pushed to 2027.

The scale of the Jal Jeevan Mission in Chhattisgarh is massive with a total sanctioned budget of Rs 26,465 crore aimed at transforming rural water supply. As of now, 4,986 contractors have been fined for irregularities ranging from delay in execution to poor-quality work. FIRs have been lodged against two contractor firms, indicating that some of these lapses were not just procedural but potentially criminal. In the administrative machinery too, only three officers have been suspended.