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NEW DELHI: With reporting irregularities in implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scheme, seven states have imposed penalties to the tune of around Rs 129 crore, including the maximum Rs 120 crore by Gujarat, against contractors and others, and registered cases against them and certain officials following a directive from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to spare no one when it comes to irregularities in the flagship initiative.Modi is learnt to have also instructed the Jal Shakti ministry and the states concerned to initiate action against all such cases of irregularities and directed the strict monitoring of the scheme, with zero tolerance for any financial, procedural and quality-related violations.The govt has recovered around Rs 13 crore in these states so far, with more than Rs 6.6 crore being recovered from Gujarat. The six other states from where penalty recovery has been made are Rajasthan (Rs 5.3 crore), Maharashtra (Rs 2 crore), Tripura (Rs 1.2 crore), Karnataka (Rs 1 crore), Assam (Rs 5 lakh) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 3 lakh).According to the ministry, 20 states/UTs — Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and West Bengal — have reported cases of irregularities and taken action in 607 cases against 621 departmental officials, 969 contractors and 153 Third Party Inspection Agencies (TPIAs). Nine FIRs have been registered against 20 officials, 10 contractors, and 1 TPIA. One former Congress minister in Rajasthan (Mahesh Joshi), 10 officials and eight contractors have been arrested so far.Launched in Aug 2019 to provide functional tap water connections to all (approx.) 19.3 crore rural households in the country, JJM has so far covered more than 15.7 crore households (81% of all). Though the govt planned to cover all households by 2024, JJM’s deadline has now been extended to 2028.
