Shillong, October 6: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday acknowledged concerns over the functioning of some Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) projects in the State, while attributing the problems to drying water sources, changing rainfall patterns, climatic conditions and complications in retrofitting existing water supply schemes.
Sangma said Meghalaya had only around 4,000 tap connections when the JJM was launched in 2019, but the number had now crossed five lakh connections. He said a majority of the newly created connections were functioning properly, with close to 60 per cent of the completed projects operating without complaints.
“Yes, there are concerns,” Sangma said, while explaining that the government was aware of projects where problems had emerged and was taking steps to address them.
According to Sangma, in some cases the original water sources dried up or their flow declined between the commencement and completion of the projects. He attributed this partly to changes in rainfall patterns and climatic conditions, which resulted in a large number of sources drying up or experiencing reduced water availability.
“These are natural phenomena. Obviously, we are looking to it,” Sangma said.
He also pointed to project-related complications involving retrofitting. Since JJM was implemented as a mission-mode programme, the State had to utilise funds released during 2019-20 within the stipulated period to avoid their lapse. The government therefore used existing water supply schemes and retrofitted them by adding pipelines to provide connections to households that previously lacked supply.
Sangma said that while this strategy helped Meghalaya utilise the funds and expand coverage, it also created difficulties in some cases because the existing sources could not always be adequately verified at the time. As a result, some retrofitted schemes later proved insufficient to meet the requirements of the additional households.
“In some cases, we realize that the retrofitting done, the source that was created was not ultimately enough for all the houses or the additional houses that were added in the retrofitting,” Sangma said.
He said around 10 to 15 projects were still facing such problems, with the government taking them up one by one and exploring ways to augment existing supplies and create additional water sources.
“These problems can be resolved,” Sangma said, expressing confidence that most of the outstanding issues would gradually be addressed.
Sangma also urged residents to report problems through the CM Connect helpline so that the government could identify affected schemes and initiate corrective measures. He asked people to call 1971 and register their complaints, saying this would help the authorities remain aware of ground-level issues and take necessary action.
