Parliament Question: Contamination and complaints under Jal Jeevan Mission

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4146 ANSWERED ON 30/03/2026 CONTAMINATION AND COMPLAINTS UNDER JAL JEEVAN MISSION 4146. SMT. PHULO DEVI NETAM: Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state: (a) the number of complaints received regarding financial irregularities, incomplete works or non- functional tap connections under Jal Jeevan Mission since 2023, State-wise and year-wise; (b) the number of habitations reported receiving supply below prescribed service level norms since 2023; (c) the number of districts in water stressed, desert, hilly or tribal areas where source sustainability issues have been recorded as on date, year-wise; and (d) whether the Mission timeline has been extended in any State due to slow progress or technical capacity constraints and the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI V. SOMANNA) (a) to (d) Government of India in partnership with States/UTs is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide functional tap water connections to every rural household (at 55 lpcd, BIS:10500 standard). Drinking Water is a ‘State’ subject and therefore, the primary responsibility for planning and implementing piped water supply schemes to provide tap water to rural households, lies with the respective State/UT. Government of India supplements the efforts of the States by providing technical and financial assistance. At the start of JJM in August 2019, only 3.23 crore (16.7%) rural households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, as reported by States/ UTs on JJM-IMIS, as on 08.03.2026, around 12.59 crore additional rural households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM. Thus, as on 08.03.2026, out of 19.36 crore rural households in the country, more than 15.82 crore (81.72%) rural households are reported to have tap water connections. States have informed that lack of dependable drinking water sources in water-stressed areas, presence of geo-genic contaminants in ground water, uneven geographical terrain, scattered rural habitations, lack of capacity of the local village communities to manage and operate in-village water supply infrastructure, etc., are few challenges being faced in the implementation of the mission. Page 1 of 3To meet these challenges, provisions for taking up augmentation and strengthening of local drinking water sources in convergence with other schemes viz. VB-G RAM G, 15th Finance Commission grants to Rural Local Bodies (RLBs)/ Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), State schemes, MP/ MLA-LAD funds, District Mineral Development Fund, CSR funds, community contribution, etc. have been envisaged under the JJM. This department has also held meetings with 729 District Collectors/ District Magistrates to review various aspects of implementation of JJM and to prioritize coverage in priority areas such as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) habitations, Aspirational districts, drought prone regions and other such areas. The state-wise and district-wise details of tap connections is in public domain and may be accessed at below link: https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMState.aspx Under JJM, as reported by all States/ UTs, a total of 18,790 complaints have been received from different sources such as media reports, suo-moto cognizance, references from public representatives, citizens, grievance portal, etc. regarding financial irregularities and poor quality of works, non- functional tap connections and related issues. The State wise details are annexed. The Union Cabinet has approved the extension of JJM upto December 2028, with enhanced outlay to complete all ongoing works within a stipulated time. ***** Page 2 of 3Annex Annex referred in the reply of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 4146 answered on 30.03.2026 Sr.no. State/UT Total no. of complaints 1 A & N Islands 0 2 Andhra Pradesh 0 3 Arunachal Pradesh 0 4 Assam 1226 5 Bihar 0 6 Chhattisgarh 329 7 DD&DNH 0 8 Goa 0 9 Gujarat 1 10 Haryana 4 11 Himachal Pradesh 3 12 Jammu & Kashmir 24 13 Jharkhand 152 14 Karnataka 169 15 Kerala 25 16 Ladakh 1 17 Lakshadweep 0 18 Madhya Pradesh 37 19 Maharashtra 154 20 Manipur 19 21 Meghalaya 8 22 Mizoram 1 23 Nagaland 14 24 Odisha 4 25 Puducherry 0 26 Punjab 6 27 Rajasthan 176 28 Sikkim 0 29 Tamil Nadu 45 30 Telangana 0 31 Tripura 1 32 Uttar Pradesh 16178 33 Uttarakhand 40 34 West Bengal 173 Total 18790 Page 3 of 3