The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the extension of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) till 2028, with an allocation of Rs 1.51 lakh crore, The Indian Express has learnt.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced extension of the JJM till 2028, with “an enhanced total outlay”, while presenting the 2025-26. However, the proposal was not approved until Tuesday.
It is learnt that the Rs 1.51 lakh crore JJM allocation approved by the Union Cabinet is lower than the amount earlier sought by the Jal Shakti Ministry. The Jal Shakti Ministry is the nodal ministry responsible for implementing JJM.
As reported by The on April 21, 2025, the Jal Shakti Ministry sought an allocation of Rs 2.79 lakh crore for the JJM for the period till 2028. However, the Ministry of Finance rejected the demand amid concerns about irregularities in the implementation of the rural tap water scheme.
Sitharaman, in her Budget last year, allocated Rs 67,000 for JJM for the current financial year (2025-26), but this was revised downward to Rs 17,000 crore in the revised estimates (RE). The sources say that this amount, too, remains unspent, as the approval came in the last month of the financial year.
Launched in August 2019, the JJM aimed to provide Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) to deliver 55 litres per capita per day (lpcd) drinking water to all rural households in the country by 2024.
Marred with irregularities and corruption, JJM saw a series of actions during fiscal year 2025-26. In May last year, the Centre sent over 100 teams of officials for a ground inspection of the JJM works. Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the Jal Shakti Ministry officials to take action against those who have committed irregularities in JJM and not to spare anyone.
On November 10, 2025, The Indian Express reported that action has been taken against at least 596 officials, 822 contractors and 152 Third Party Inspection Agencies (TPIAs) across 15 states and Union Territories following complaints received about financial irregularities and poor quality of work under the Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission for supplying drinking water through individual tap connections to rural households.
On May 21, 2025, The Indian Express published the findings of its investigation into data uploaded by states and Union Territories on the JJM dashboard, showing how changes to the Mission’s guidelines three years ago lifted a crucial expenditure check and led to cost escalations.
The Express investigation found that this resulted in additional costs totalling Rs 16,839 crore for 14,586 schemes, an increase of 14.58 per cent from their estimated cost.
