Implementation pitfalls

Assam government's plan to provide functional tap connections to 13 lakh rural households under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in the current financial year will put it to the test. It will require extraordinary efforts to achieve the target under the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic situation in the state. As on July 7, only 1,72,756 households (2.73 per cent) of the total 63,05,015 households in the state have tap connections. It was 1.76 per cent of the total households as on April 1, 2019. Since then only 61,445 new households have been covered under the mission in a period of one year and two months. Assam spent only Rs 148.89 crore of the total central share of Rs 339.33 crore released for the 2019-20 under JJM. The figures reflect poorly on the pace of implementation of the flagship mission of providing Functional Household Tap Connection for supplying minimum 55 litres of water per capita per day to every rural Household by 2024. Given this past track record, the target set for the current year appears to be challenging. Assam needs to achieve yearly target of covering 12,32,452 households to cover all rural households in the state by this target set by the national mission. The State Government's decision to engage migrant youth workers who have returned home due to the pandemic in JJM work is a welcome move. Successful implementation of the decision will help the State achieve twin objectives of meeting the demand of extra workforce that will be needed to achieve the target and providing income opportunities to the jobless returnees. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources in its report presented to the Lok Sabha in March recommended that from the fiscal year 2020-21 onwards, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation in the Ministry of Jal Shakti should ensure fullest utilization of funds allocated to the states by not only keeping a tab on the progress of release-cum-expenditure but also ensuring timely compliance with all the necessary Guidelines for the optimum utilization of the funds. The Committee observed that there is no proper system of conducting physical verification and monitoring of actual infrastructure work executed by the States and to monitor the utilization of funds. "Although the Department has been holding review meetings and video conferences to monitor utilization, the Committee feel that the system is not very effective to bring the desired results," the report states. The Committee recommended that the monitoring system should be strengthened, and a mechanism should be developed for ensuring transparency and accountability and fixation of responsibility in case of delay or non-implementation of Projects/Plans in the rural areas. The committee's recommendations are a set of reminders to the State Government that unless proper utilization of funds is not ensured by institutionalizing a robust monitoring mechanism, mere setting the target and release of fund is not going to ensure its achievement. The Central government has approved Rs 1407 crore for the 2020-21 against the Annual Action Plan (AAP) submitted by the State Government for implementation of the JJM. Official record of discussion at the meeting to finalize the APP held through video conferencing on May 22 reveal several deficiencies in the action plan. The Ministry officials observed that even though the state cannot spend more than Rs 70 crore during the year for support activities it submitted the plans for Rs 100.63 crore. The State government, for instance, earmarked Rs 11.12 crore for third party assessment under support activities for the year which the ministry officials remarked to be "apparently very huge amount." Besides, Rs. 1.41 crore was earmarked for Development of Hydro –geomorphological maps which the Ministry remarked "Not appreciable as there is no dearth of ground water in Assam." A critical gap that the record reveals is that the State Government was yet to finalize implementation arrangements/ institutional mechanisms even as nine months has elapsed. Assam government officials while acknowledging the poor progress pointed out that the FHTCs was not a priority to the State till last year and the community demand for it is also low as most of the rural households in Assam have access to water through well/ handpumps. Besides, short working season in the State spanning between October and middle of May affects the progress of construction activities substantially, they insisted. Another area of concern is that getting the approval of Gram Sabha as per mission guidelines is likely to take time due to prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. Access to safe and easily accessible potable drinking water is critical to preventing outbreak of water-borne diseases and overall public health. However, achieving the target set for the year under JJM with casual approach in planning its execution looks like a distant dream. There is no alternative to a realistic plan and robust institutional mechanism to monitor the execution.