Kachai VA decries falsities on JJM website
Source: Chronicle News Service / R Lester Makang

Ukhrul, July 18 2024: In yet another serious discrepancy in the implementation of a project under the Jal Jeevan Mission JJM) in Ukhrul district, Kachai Village Authority has vehemently decried the information posted on the Jalshakti official website regarding progress of the project in the village, as highly misleading' and called for immediate deletion of the erroneous data from the website.

Addressing a press Conference at Ukhrul town on Wednesday, Kachai Village Authority secretary Wormihor Lolly Vashum raised concerns over the falsities uploaded on the Jal Jeevan Mission website: https://ejalshakti.gov.in.

Vashum asserted that the data posted on the website contains numerous factual errors, rendering it misleading.

"The website falsely claims that JJM implementation in our village has reached 85.24 per cent completion, while there's nothing done on the ground," he rued.

"This discrepancy has deeply angered the villagers, who view it as a blatant attempt to mislead the public," he said, adding that the website's claim has fostered a false sense of accomplishment and hindered genuine progress in providing access to clean drinking water for all households.

"We demand immediate removal of this misleading information from the website," he declared, adding that failure to do so will leave them with no choice but to pursue legal action to expose the truth in order to ensure transparency and accountability in the scheme's implementation.

According to Vashum, the website reported that of the 718 households in the village 612 have received functional household tap connections (FHTCs), representing 85.24 per cent completion and only 106 households without access to FHTCs under the programme.

Refuting the information as grossly misleading, he highlighted that the village only has 650 households while emphasising that despite the distribution of around 90 water taps, none of the homes had been connected to the water supply as claimed on the website.

"While three distributory tanks and two reservoir tanks have been constructed, the crucial pipeline connecting the source to the reservoir tanks is yet to be installed," he said, adding that no pipelines have been laid from the distributory tanks to any households.

"So, the claim of providing tap connections to 612 households is entirely misleading" .

Vashum further contended the website's accuracy, pointing out that it listed an unidentified 'Mingreingam L Vashum' as the headman/sarpanch, while the actual headman of Kachai village is R Mingthing Shimray.

He also decried mentioning of an unknown name S Ranphang as member of VWSC as no such person resides within the village and asserted that the Kachai Village Water Management Committee (KVW-MC) holds exclusive authority over water management in the village.

He expressed that the villagers are unaware of both the existence of S Ranphang and the VWSC.

Vashum stated that the website falsely claimed that a person named Rs Kanmi was the plumber responsible for operation and maintenance.

"This individual is unknown to the village, and that no plumber or lineman has been assigned to our village since the previous lineman retired some 20 years back".

Faced with the retirement of the previous lineman and no replacement, the village took a proactive approach and collectively engaged two locals as linemen, namely K Nganaomi and S Matuiching, paying them a monthly salary of Rs 6000 each.

"This initiative was funded through a village-wide contribution of Rs 50 per household," he said.

While the website listed five women, namely Rs Wontharla, H Watchington, S Sanotla, H Thithingla, and S Yakhangla, as staffers for field test kit (FTK) testing, Vashum clarified that the first woman no longer resides in the village.

Moreover, the second and third women had passed away long ago, and the fourth and fifth are both in their eighties, he maintained.

At the same time, Vashum refuted the website's claims regarding the provision of tap connections and hand washing facilities at the seven schools and 11 Anganwadi centres in the village.

"These facilities are non-existent," he asserted, calling the claims false and misleading.

It may be mentioned that a similar progress discrepancy was recently detected on the same website regarding the JJM implementation in Phungcham village and its constituent habitations Paorei and Varangalai.

Launched by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti's Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation in 2019, the Har Ghar Jal - JJM initiative aims to supply tap water to every rural household by 2024 .

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