₹ 4,000 crore was misappropriated under the YSRCP government’s Jal Jeevan Mission, Pawan Kalyan said

Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan addressing a Jal Jeevan Mission workshop in Vijayawada on Wednesday. | Photo credit: GN RAO

Deputy Chief Minister (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development) K Pawan Kalyan has said that Andhra Pradesh could not fully utilize the potential of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) during the tenure of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

Instead, around ₹ 4,000 crore was misappropriated under JJM, he said while addressing a workshop on ‘Implementation of JMM in the State’ on December 18 (Wednesday) in Vijayawada.

Mr. Pawan Kalyan said that JJM was started in 2019, with each state submitting a proposal to the central government for the required funds to provide drinking water to every household.

“Uttar Pradesh demanded ₹1.5 lakh crore, Madhya Pradesh ₹83,000 crore, Gujarat ₹32,000 crore, and Kerala ₹45,000 crore. The previous YSRCP government only spent Rs. 26,000 crore. Kerala, a smaller state than Andhra Pradesh, understood the future needs and asked for a significantly larger amount of ₹ 45,000 crore,” he pointed out.

However, the central government has sanctioned Rs 4,877 crore to Andhra Pradesh. Those funds were also used very much against JJM guidelines. The previous government was dependent only on borewells, which was against JJM’s objective. Funds were spent to lay pipelines even though sustainable sources of water were not identified and developed. Again, the YSRCP government made false claims about its achievements in JJM, teh Deputy Chief Minister said.

While the YSRCP regime claimed to have provided water connections to 70.04 lakh households, 25.4 lakh households still need connections. After conducting the pulse survey for four weeks, it was found that out of 85.22 lakh households, only 55.37 lakh households had water connections, Mr. Pawan Kalyan said.

“Contrary to the goals of the Jal Jeevan Mission, most of these water connections depended on borewells. Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil pointed out the same in a recent meeting,” said the Deputy Chief Minister.

“The Andhra Pradesh government has requested the Center to extend the JJM program by one year and has asked for Rs 70,000 crore. A detailed project report (DPR) for this will be submitted by January 2025,” he said.

Legislative Council JSP Whip Pidugu Hariprasad, Principal Secretary (Panchayati Raj and Rural Development) Shashi Bhushan Kumar, Panchayati Raj Commissioner Krishna Teja, Rural Safe Water Supply Chief Engineer Sanjeev Reddy, Water Resources Chief Engineer Venkateswara Rao and others were present. In the workshop.