Oppn attacks govt over slow pace of Jal Jeevan Mission

Thiruvananthapuram: State govt’s implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission aimed at ensuring water tap connections came in for heavy criticism from the opposition in the assembly on Monday.
Kerala Congress (J) MLA Anoop Jacob, who sought a leave for adjournment of the proceedings citing shoddy implementation of the mission, attacked govt citing that water was not provided through six lakh plus connections given under JJM.He said that the project was implemented without any proper survey, and a Google Earth survey was the mere reference for the implementation of the survey, picking the beneficiaries from several existing projects.
Even the state share for the project was not released on time, delaying it for months together, and the project stares at uncertainty with the state completing only 38.86% of the project till now, he said. He said that the huge dues to the contractors are making them slow down the work. Had govt shown determination to recover the Rs 1,350cr dues to the Kerala water authority (KWA), it could have avoided increasing the water charges, he said.
Water resources minister Roshy Augustine said some difficulties are natural when the project of such a huge magnitude is being implemented.
Despite the increase in water charges, KWA is bearing a loss of Rs 5 per kilolitre of water supplied to the consumers. He said that as much as 1,04,400km of road had to be cut open for laying the pipes, out of which 51,000km of road has been restored. He said that 19.5 lakh connections have been provided in two and a half years, and 92 panchayats have been covered. An additional 100 panchayats would be covered by Dec-end, he said. He added that the dues to contractors which the opposition is talking of, is not even 9% of the total outlay for the project, which is worth Rs 44,715cr.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan pointed out that govt’s argument is nothing but fooling the public as only Rs 9,410cr has been spent till now, and out of this, Rs 3,281cr is due to the contractors which means 35% of the funds spent are on dues. He said govt is providing water connections which are not serving the purpose as the source of water is not being expanded.
“Not even one fourth of the project outlay has been spent while targeting to provide 54 lakh piped water connections, after five years. The project is being implemented without water sources, purification units, pumping stations and water tanks. Without augmenting water sources, how would govt be able to supply water to the consumers?,” he asked.
If govt intends to complete the project in the next two years, it will have to spend Rs 15,000cr. How govt is planning to find the money for completing the project?, he asked. The opposition later staged a walkout.