BENGALURU: BJP MLC CT Ravi stated on Friday in the Upper House that the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) project has not been successful and that the state government has not managed it properly.
“90% of the bill has been paid, but is the work complete?” he asked. In reply, RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge said this is a drinking water project. The Karnataka Government has allocated Rs 570 crore, which should have come from the Centre.
“The Centre does not agree to the JJM project without a water source. The work is not possible without a detailed project report and a water source. It takes at least two years to complete the Jal Jeevan Mission project,” he said, adding that they had asked for Rs 570 crore from the Centre, which is yet to be released.
The funds were released by the state, he said. The BJP MLCs highlighted shoddy work in the project implementation, to which Kharge informed the Council that a review has been conducted across 1,550 villages. “In case, there is a problem with the water source in Chikkamagaluru, we will fix it,” he said.
Ravi pointed out that no work had been done in 21,000 villages, to which Kharge replied that out of the Rs 65,000 crore, including for JJM, only Rs 32,000 crore of grants had been received. For Chikkamagaluru, of the Rs 1,000 crore grant for JJM, only Rs 320 crore has been released so far, and the work will be completed by June 2026.