PHE minister says no corruption in JJM implementation

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 15, 2024

Minister in-charge Public Health Engineering (PHE) Marcuise N Marak Wednesday said Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Meghalaya has been implemented in a very transparent manner.

Speaking to reporters, Marak said, “Practically speaking, implementation of JJM is very transparent.”

Rubbishing all corruption allegations, the minister said, “You will get your bill once you complete the work. Third party is there to report that JJM for so and so villages have been completed, the water is flowing perfectly and people have started to get the water only then the bill will be sent for payment. Only after that payment is done and payment is also under a system.”

He said Meghalaya has achieved 74.47% completion in the JJM implementation by providing water tap connection to over 4.85 lakh households.

“So what is their (BJP) problem I don’t know? It will be a small issue because we are implementing thousands of households but we try our best to rectify,” he said. He said,“Last time they alleged that some corruption is going on but practically that is not corruption, the project was delayed because there was some  obstruction when the construction started. To resume construction, we took sometimes but once the problem is resolved, work is going on in full swing. Therefore, there is no lapses from the part of the department and part of the government.”

He however said that some projects are getting delayed because of the power connections. There are lots of power issues.

Further, Marak said the government is not missing the deadline. “The target was given for January but every state did not complete that January deadline. We also now 74.47% and we are hopeful to complete the target by March-April. We are trying our level best, we are pushing it,” he said.

He also informed that the state is getting funds from the Centre through different schemes including Amrut and NESID for the Urban areas.