The Centre on Wednesday added 12 teams of Central Nodal Officers to the 100 already deployed for ground inspection of Jal Jeevan Mission schemes across the country. The officials of 18 of the previously announced teams, which began to fan out Monday, have also been replaced.
The new teams will conduct ground inspection of the JJM works across the districts of Nuh in Haryana, Alappuzha and Kottayam in Kerala, Panna and Ujjain in MP, Gajapati in Odisha, Chitrakoot in UP, South 24 Parganas in West Bengal, Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, Virudhunagar in , Sahibganj in Jharkhand and Fazilka in Punjab.
The first 100 teams of CNOs were announced by the Centre on May 19; the Ministry of Jal Shakti has already conducted their training and some of them have already arrived in the assigned districts.
The Centre’s decision to review JJM schemes comes two months after an Expenditure Secretary-led panel, as reported by on April 21, 2023, proposed a 46% cut to the Water Resources Ministry’s funding proposal of Rs 2.79 lakh crore for four years ending December 2028. Officials said there were concerns that some states inflated work contracts.
Since the launch of the JJM in 2019, 6.4 lakh water supply schemes with total estimated cost of Rs 8.29 lakh crore — more than double of the scheme’s original outlay of Rs 3.60 lakh crore (Centre: Rs 2.08 lakh crore, States:1.52 lakh crore) — have been approved by the states.
