Parliament Question: Safe and Contamination-free Water in Tribal and Remote Areas of Maharashtra

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1121 ANSWERED ON 05.02.2026 SAFE AND CONTAMINATION-FREE WATER IN TRIBAL AND REMOTE AREAS OF MAHARASHTRA 1121. SHRI BHASKAR MURLIDHAR BHAGARE Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has put in place an effective mechanism to verify that functional household tap connections provided under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in tribal and remote districts of Maharashtra are actually functional and whether the weak monitoring has led to non-functional or irregular water supply in several tribal areas and if so, the details thereof; (b) the steps taken to ensure that drinking water supplied in these regions is safe and free from contamination and whether any lapses have been reported in quality testing or treatment of drinking water and if so, the details thereof; (c) whether the Government has assessed inequitable water availability across regions, particularly the continued water scarcity in tribal districts of Maharashtra despite higher rainfall in other regions and if so, the details thereof along with the measures taken to ensure equitable and reliable distribution of drinking water; (d) whether any delays or interruptions in the release of Central funds have adversely affected implementation in tribal belts of Maharashtra and if so, the details thereof; (e) the revised timeline fixed for achieving universal Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) in the tribal areas; and (f) the corrective and time-bound steps being taken to accelerate coverage and address persistent gaps? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI V. SOMANNA) (a) to (f) Drinking water is a State subject. The power to plan, design, approve and implement drinking water supply schemes/projects lies with State Government. Government of India, in partnership with States/UTs including Maharashtra is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission, since August, 2019, to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household including those in tribal and remote districts in the country. Under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation provides financial, policy guidance and technical assistance to the States and Union Territories for implementing their drinking water supply schemes. Page 1 of 3The Mission is being implemented as per approved guidelines and extant financial rules, ensuring transparency, accountability, and community participation. The Government of India has taken several steps to strengthen the planning and implementation of JJM across the country, including Maharashtra. These steps include joint discussions and finalization of Annual Action Plans (AAPs) with States/UTs, regular reviews of implementation, organization of workshops/conferences/webinars for capacity building and knowledge sharing, and field visits by multi-disciplinary teams to provide technical support. For real-time and transparent monitoring, the JJM–Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) and JJM–Dashboard have been developed whereby the information on the progress of the Mission at state, district and panchayat levels are provided in public domain. Provision has also been made for transparent online financial management through Public Financial Management System (PFMS). The following mechanism are in place under JJM to ensure quality of piped water supplied to households, including regular testing for contaminants: i) Under Jal Jeevan Mission, as per existing guidelines, Bureau of Indian Standards’ BIS:10500 standards are adopted as benchmarks for quality of water being supplied through the piped water supply schemes. ii) To enable States/ UTs to test water samples for water quality, and for sample collection, reporting, monitoring and surveillance of drinking water sources, an online JJM–Water Quality Management Information System (WQMIS) portal has been developed. The State– wise details of water quality test reported through WQMIS are available in public domain and can be accessed at: https://ejalshakti.gov.in/WQMIS/Main/report iii) As per the Operational Guidelines, States/ UTs can utilize up to 2% of their annual allocation of funds under JJM for Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance (WQM&S) activities, which inter-alia includes setting up and strengthening of water quality testing laboratories, procurement of equipment, instruments, chemicals, glassware, consumables, hiring of skilled manpower, surveillance by community using field test kits (FTKs), awareness generation, educational programmes on water quality, accreditation/recognition of laboratories, etc. iv) In order to empower the communities to monitor the water quality, States/ UTs have also been advised to identify and train 5 persons, preferably women, in every village to conduct water quality testing using Field Testing Kits (FTKs)/ bacteriological vials at village level and report the same on the WQMIS portal. Water being a State subject, steps for augmentation, conservation and efficient management of water resources are primarily undertaken by the respective State Governments. Under JJM, provisions have been made for drinking water source development/ strengthening/ augmentation; and infrastructure for bulk transfer of water, treatment and distribution systems in water deficit drought- prone and desert areas without dependable ground water sources, apart from creation of in-village water supply infrastructure. To achieve drinking water security, every village has to prepare a 5-year Village Action Plan under Jal Jeevan Mission which inter alia includes augmentation and strengthening of drinking water sources to be taken up in convergence with other schemes at village level viz. 15thFinance Commission tied grants to Rural Local Bodies (RLBs)/ PRIs, Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), State schemes, District Mineral Development Fund, CSR funds, community contribution, etc. Page 2 of 3Release of funds to all States/UTs including Maharashtra is made in consonance with ‘Just in Time’ principle as envisaged in the operational guideline for the implementation of JJM and extant instructions issued by Ministry of Finance from time to time. The year-wise details of funds allocated, released and utilized by the State of Maharashtra under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is as under: (Amount in Rs. Crore) Central share Expenditure Year Fund Total under State Opening Budget Reported drawn by available share Balance allocation utilization the State fund 2019-20 248.12 847.97 345.28 593.40 308.04 431.79 2020-21 285.35 1828.92 457.23 742.58 473.59 324.56 2021-22 268.99 7,064.41 1,666.64 1,935.63 377.98 477.98 2022-23 1,557.65 7,831.25 3,915.62 5,473.27 3,109.53 2,972.21 2023-24 2,363.74 21,465.88 7,444.26 9,808.00 8,208.53 8,371.34 2024-25 1,599.47 5,352.93 1,605.88 3,205.35 2,235.12 3,150.59 2025-26 970.22 - - 970.22 - 971.94 Source: JJM-IMIS JJM follows a universal approach to cover all rural households including the remote rural households in tribal areas. Following the principle of ‘no one is left out’, under Jal Jeevan Mission, provision of tap water supply is envisaged for every rural household, including all SC/ ST rural households in the country. Further, priority is given for provision of tap water supply in water quality affected habitations, desert and drought-prone areas, SC/ ST villages, Aspirational & JE - AES affected districts, Saansad Adarsh Gramin Yojana villages, etc. As reported by Maharashtra on JJM-IMIS, total 17.48 lakh households are present in 7,535 ST concentrated villages. Of this, as on 02.02.2026, more than 14 lakh households (~80 %) have tap water connections in their homes. ***** Page 3 of 3