Parliamentary panel flags discrepancies, slams delay in tap water schemes

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary standing committee on rural development and panchayati raj on Monday took officials of the jal shakti ministry to task over the lack of proper implementation of its flagship schemes across India, including the provision of tap water to rural households.

The panel, comprising 29 members of Parliament from the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, flagged several issues, specifically the drying up of water sources after installing tap connections and irregularities to falsely show that households had been connected to the tap water supply, according to people familiar with the development.

Members of the committee also raised concerns about sanitation schemes, stating that the financial “assistance” provided for toilet construction was too meagre to motivate people in villages to build and use toilets.

An official present at the meeting said, “Both Congress and BJP MPs reported that during their field visits, and from information received from the ground, they found that many household connections existed only on paper.”

A BJP MP, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, “In many cases, Aadhaar cards were collected from households and shown as scheme beneficiaries, but those households were never provided with tap water. Contractors or implementing agencies entered the Aadhaar details into the Jal Jeevan Mission’s Information Management System to match records, but no cross-checks were conducted.”

The meeting took place in the Parliament building, where panel members questioned officials from the department of drinking water and sanitation under the ministry of jal shakti on the topic “Clean and Green Village: Role of Panchayats.”

Launched in 2019, the Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide functional household tap water connections to all rural households. Since its inception, 12.37 crore households–or 76.7%--have been connected under the scheme.

However, participants in the meeting told HT that the drying up of water sources remained a significant issue.

“We told the officials that while detailed project reports often emphasised sustainable water sources and motor installation, in many cases, those sources dried up after implementation…Strangely, during our visits we found water at solar-operated tanks, but no tap connections to all households. Vice versa, where households had tap connections, the water source for the entire village had dried up,” said a Congress MP, also speaking anonymously. Panel members criticised department officials for dodging responsibility by claiming that implementation was the responsibility of the states.

MPs said that these issues were notably prevalent in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, and other states.

Sanitation was another area of concern. Currently, ₹12,000 is provided as an “assistance amount” for toilet construction, but several MPs criticised it as insufficient. An official present at the meeting said, “The government launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014 and claimed 100 million individual household toilets were constructed within five years. However, panel members said many toilets are being used to store cattle feed, as they are either too small or lack access to water.”

A Congress MP added, “Many areas have been declared open defecation free, but that is not the case. We told the officials the ground reality and urged them to monitor implementation more effectively.”