40 villages in MP do not have drinking water

Bhopal: In an embarrassment to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, a BJP MLA on Friday said that over 40 villages in MP’s Sanchi still have no drinking water facilities.

“People are not getting tap water despite work being completed on paper. More than 40 villages of Sanchi are still waiting for the drinking water,” the BJP MLA from Sanchi assembly seat in Sehore district, Prabhuram Chaudhary, told the Assembly on Friday.

Chaudhary, a senior BJP leader, was Health Minister in ex-CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet.

The BJP MLA made the remarks when the Assembly was discussing the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission.

He demanded an investigation and tough action against the officials, who completed the project on “paper” while there is nothing on the ground. The opposition Congress attacked the BJP government soon after Chaudhary’s remarks, saying that the success of the Jal Jeevan Mission is far from reality. “There are irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission. Work has been done on paper only and nothing has been done on the ground. Even the BJP MLAs tell the reality of Jal Jeevan Mission,” Congress MLA Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya assured the House that the government would order an inquiry and those found guilty would be punished.

Jal Jeevan Mission is the Central government’s project launched in 2019 which is aimed at providing tap water to every household. “Nal-Jal” scheme is its part, which is under the Jal Shakti Ministry while the states have been entitled to execute the project on the ground.

Jal Shakti Ministry’s data showed that around 1.11 crore households are registered in Madhya Pradesh for Jal Jeevan Mission and 62 per cent of them have started receiving tap water, till April 2024. It also stated that 100 per cent target would be achieved by the end of this year.