J&K House Committee finds ‘irregularities’ in Jal Jeevan Mission, calls for probe

The J&K House Committee, investigating the alleged irregularities in the ₹1100-crore Jal Jeevan Mission (JJV) projects in the Union Territory (UT), on Monday (September 21, 2026) tabled its report before the House and highlighted “gross negligence of administrative machinery, below-standard civil works, irregularities in laying of distribution of pipe network and awarding contracts”. 

“The task assigned to the House Committee has been both challenging and sensitive, as JJM has a direct linkage with the lives of the common people, independent of their status, gender, religion or regional identity. While some progress has been achieved in certain areas as far as implementation of JJM is concerned, yet the overall objective of the Mission has remained unachieved,” said National Conference (NC) legislator and retired justice Hasnain Masoodi, also the chairman of the House Committee.

The report detailed the irregularities in the implementation of JJM, lapses, gaps in supervisory oversight, unwarranted expenditure and other deficiencies in decision-making and administrative control. In an 18-point recommendation, the House Committee called upon the UT government that the matter be referred to an investigating agency and “to take action warranted under law”.

The report suggested that in the civil works executed for JJM schemes, the construction “does not conform to the prescribed and well-known engineering standards”. It pointed out that, in the middle of the implementation of the Mission, an official order “authorized all the Executive Engineers of the Jammu Division to use [high-density polyethylene] HDPE pipes in place of Galvanized Iron [GI] Pipes “depending on feasibility at site”.

“The decision to make a shift from GI pipes to HDPE pipes cannot be justified. There is no credible record, at least produced before the House Committee as regards details of the GI and HDPE pipes procured, utilized and left unutilized,” the report said.

The report observed that the JJM authorities incurred huge expenditure on the execution of the civil works without source confirmation, “resulting in non-availability of drinking water to the expected beneficiaries and huge loss to the State exchequer”.

“In the case of most of the civil works executed for JJM Schemes, the construction does not conform to the prescribed and well-known engineering standards,” the report said.

The House Committee also highlighted that it came across cases where either the water supply was shifted from the approved site, “appeared to benefit the contractor as shifting helped the contractor to cut the cost for execution of such works by avoiding head load and carriage of the building material”.

It said almost all the site visits found the GI as well as HDPE pipes used for the distribution network to have not been embedded but laid over the ground, “against the terms and conditions of contract”.

The House Committee said that the contracts were allotted by the JJM engineers to the contractors from outside J&K, without verifying their ability to mobilize men, material and machinery in Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi and Udhampur districts. “The contractors, after bagging the contract, did not visit the site, and the contracts were largely executed by their agents or by the subordinate staff of JJM/Jal Shakti Department,” it added. 

“The record made available to the House Committee, on a closer look, is found to have projected false claims as regards the number of Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) provided in a habitation as also the number of habitations where such connections have been provided,” it added.

The JJM, a flagship program launched on 15th August 2019 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aims to provide a regular supply of 55 litres per capita per day of drinking water to every rural household by March 2024. However, in 2025, legislators cutting across party lines alleged large scale irregularities in implementation of JJM and demanded a thorough probe by a House Committee.