Planning failures double Maha’s Jal Jeevan Mission cost to Rs 26,410 cr: CAG

Mumbai, July 10 (IANS) In a scathing observation on the implementation of the flagship Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Maharashtra, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has revealed that a staggering 75 per cent of water supply schemes remained incomplete between 2019 and 2024.

It further pointed out that poor planning, missing baseline surveys, and rampant project revisions caused the mission’s expenditure to double its initial estimates, skyrocketing to over Rs 26,400 crore.

According to the CAG report tracking the mission from its launch in August 2019 to March 2024, the initial estimated expenditure for the state’s rural tap water scheme was pegged at Rs 13,668 crore. However, by March 2024, the state had allocated Rs 27,559.26 crore, with actual expenditure touching Rs 26,410.51 crore, nearly twice the original budget.

The CAG stated that the cost of implementation increased due to inadequate initial planning, deficiencies in surveys, delays in execution, and frequent revisions of schemes, exposing critical systemic gaps in state administration.

The audit highlighted a severe bottleneck in project completion. Of the 51,560 water supply schemes initiated across Maharashtra during the five years under review, a meagre 12,703 (24.64 per cent) were completed. The remaining 38,857 schemes (75.30 per cent) were languishing in various stages of implementation.

At the launch of the mission in August 2019, Maharashtra had 138.54 lakh rural households, out of which 48.44 lakh already possessed tap connections. While the ultimate target was to scale coverage to 1.46 crore rural households, the state managed to provide Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) to 1.25 crore households by March 2024.

Alarmingly, the CAG audit found that 108,000 households were entirely left out of the District Action Plans, effectively bypassing them for access to tap water. The CAG flagged “weak planning” as the root cause of the mission’s struggles, noting that a mandatory baseline survey was never conducted.

Furthermore, the CAG pointed out deficient village action plans, saying they were prepared without incorporating essential sustainability parameters. District action plans were not drafted for the entire period of the scheme. Schemes were recklessly planned without first securing verified, sustainable water sources. These foundational lapses triggered a wave of mid-course corrections.

The CAG noted that 27 per cent of all state-level schemes (13,835 out of 51,560) had to undergo aggressive cost revisions. Changes in project scope to accommodate additional inhabitants, shifts in water sources or land locations, execution of extra works, and awarding contracts well above tender rates collectively inflated project costs by an additional Rs 9,608.87 crore.

To arrest the financial bleeding and streamline the remaining rollout, the CAG has put forward three major recommendations to the Maharashtra government. It has called for strengthening fund-flow dynamics and has suggested that the government implement more robust fund-flow planning to ensure the timely release and optimal utilisation of both Central and State fiscal shares.

It also recommended enforcing strict timelines for remitting interest earned on unspent balances back to the Consolidated Fund, alongside the swift submission of Utilisation Certificates (UCs) and audited accounts.

The CAG has recommended devising a rigorous regulatory mechanism and boosting regular monitoring to prevent inadmissible expenditure through tighter internal controls.

–IANS

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