BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Saturday lashed at the State government for its failure to utilise the funds released by the Centre for tap water supply to households under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). With a focus on Jal Jeevan Mission on the fourth day of the party’s Social Justice Fortnight, the BJP targeted the BJD government for the sluggish progress of the programme which is being implemented in mission mode.
Alleging that the drinking water supply projects in 160 blocks of the State are limited to pen and paper only, BJP spokesperson Ramaranjan Baliarsingh told a media conference here that 56 per cent households in rural areas are without tap water. The highest number of 113 drinking water projects remained non-starter in Ganjam, the home district of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The government has sanctioned 237 projects for the district.
The CM had laid foundation stones of 110 mega drinking water projects in 2019. Not a single project has been completed yet, Baliarsingh said. He claimed that the tap water penetration in the tribal dominated industrial district of Sundargarh is only 7 per cent.
The former MLA said 33 per cent of schools and 46 per cent Anganwadi centres of the State do not have tap water supply. After the launching of JJM on August 15, 2019, the Centre released Rs 1,298.71 crore under the Mission to State government in 2019-20 and 2020-21. The government could utilise only Rs 42 crore.
Though the Centre made a increase in budgetary allocation to Rs 3,323.42 crore in 2021-22 from Rs 812.15 crore in the preceding year and released Rs 831 crore, a substantial amount has remained unspent by the end of the last financial year. Of the total 88.33 lakh households, tap water connection has been provided to 40.60 lakh households by end of 2021-22.