Karnataka govt's apathy delaying implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in state: Union Minister V Somanna

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Railways, V Somanna, on Tuesday alleged that the Karnataka government is not cooperating in the speedy implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), as the state has failed to submit utilisation certificates for funds released by the Central government.

“The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti is ready to release funds since there is no shortage of money. However, the Congress-ruled state government has not submitted utilisation certificates to the Ministry for the money already spent under the scheme,” Somanna told reporters here.

Due to poor execution the scheme, Karnataka ranks a lowly 25th among states in the country, the Minister said.

The Jal Jeevan Mission was announced by the NDA government in 2019 with the aim of providing safe and clean drinking tap water to every rural household in the country.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had recently claimed that Karnataka has spent ₹35,698 crore on implementing the JJM, while the Centre has released only ₹11,786.63 crore. He urged the Union government to release the remaining ₹13,004.63 crore.

In his rebuttal, Somanna had earlier said the state is lagging in the scheme primarily because it has not released its matching share corresponding to the funds allocated by the Centre.

From 2019–20 to 2024–25, the Jal Shakti Ministry allocated ₹28,623.89 crore to Karnataka for the scheme. However, the state could draw only ₹11,760 crore and spent just ₹11,097.92 crore within the mission period. Due to the delayed submission of requisite documents, the state government could not utilise the entire allocated amount, the Union Minister said.

The state had approved 66,344 projects costing ₹69,487.60 crore under JJM. However, as of 15 March 2024, work orders had not been issued for works worth ₹1,716 crore. Out of the total approved projects, only 24,888 (37.5%) were physically completed and just 9,325 (14.05%) were financially completed by 31 March 2024.

“Had the state government cooperated fully in implementing the scheme, 100% tap water coverage to every rural household in Karnataka could have been achieved by now,” Somanna had said.