J&K government says no need to hold any inquiry in Jal Jeevan Mission

Srinagar: J&K government on Wednesday said that there was no need to conduct an inquiry into the allegations of irregularities in a “Rs 13,000” crore Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)- a centrally-sponsored scheme.

“A scam of 13000 crore has been alleged when only 800 Crore have been spent till August, 2023. But the public is being misled in both these aspects as neither any scam has taken place nor the figures given in respect of the expenditure are correct as the total expenditure in JJM as on August 31 is Rs.3088.30 Crores ,” Additional Chief Secretary Jal Shakti Department, Shaleen Kabra said during a press conference.

He said allegations are complete “nonsense” and made by people who have no understanding.

Recently, a top IAS officer of Jammu and Kashmir Cade Ashok Kumar Parmar had sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged irregularities the J&K’s centrally-sponsored scheme during.

In his complaint, to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) he claimed that during his tenure as principal secretary Jal Shakti Department in J&K , he intimated the LG Manoj Sinha, chief secretary and other authorities about the “dismal status of implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission”, which he said was being implemented without doing SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis.

After the IAS officer’ allegation, Congress launched a scathing attack on the Central government, alleging a staggering Rs 13,000 crore scam within the Jal Jeevan Mission in Jammu and Kashmir.

Kabra said there was no need for any probe as all the works were awarded through a transparent and competitive e-tendering system after approval of Administrative Approvals, Technical Sanctions wherever required before tendering.

“The works have been allotted strictly as per the Financial Powers and on the approvals of SBD and rates from the UT level Committee headed by the Development Commissioner Works, the senior most engineer in the UT, and with the consent of the District Jal Jeevan Missions (DJJMs) headed by the respective District Development Commissioners it may be noted that no contract has been awarded without e-tendering,” he said.

The Additional Chief Secretary Jal Shakti Department said 97% of critical work components were awarded through a transparent e-tendering system.

UNI