PHE Minister Marcuise N. Marak today denied allegations that the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) has not been implemented properly in several villages of the State and that water pipes were laid without any water coming to the houses.
“These are only allegations practically you go and see everyone is getting water. I am not saying anything hypothetical but practical,” Marak told media persons here today.
Marak said that the Central government has asked the State to complete the JJM implementation by January 26, 2024.
Informing that sometimes some of the projects are completed but they have to wait for electricity connections, he said, “Once the power connection is done we will be able to connect around 53 households at one go”.
Talking about the challenges faced in implementing the project, Marak said land acquisition is one the hurdles whereas there are some villages located in the interstate boundary.
The minister also informed that the State government had cancelled the work order of some of the contractors as they were found to be not working on the ground. He said that the work was re-allotted to other contractors.
Marak also said that the State PHE Department is targeting to cross five lakh household tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) by Christmas.
“I got an assurance from the engineers of all the divisions that before Christmas we should be reaching almost five lakh. So we should be targeting this and yesterday evening I had a detailed review with officials and we have crossed four lakh today and another one lakh before Christmas. We should be touching that which is our target,” Marak said.
Informing that the project has reached 62.12 percent completion, he gave a break-up of the districts where the JJM has been implemented.
The highest implementation was in East Garo Hills which touched 80.43 per cent, followed by South West Garo Hills (79.30 per cent) and Ri-Bhoi (73.63 per cent). East Jaintia Hills was in the bottom at just 44.50 per cent.
