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Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Contractor's suicide puts limelight on Rs 35k crore need for state's Jal Jeevan Mission
Even as Maharashtra's ruling and opposition parties exchanged barbs after the suicide of young contractor Harshal Patil, allegedly over non-payment of dues amounting to Rs 1.4 crore on account of Jal Jeevan Mission work in Sangli district, documents from the state government's Water Supply and Sanitation department show that the state needs Rs 35,622 crore to complete the ongoing works and honour the dues for the year 2025-26. As per the data, Maharashtra's annual plan for the year 2025-26 is of Rs 35,622 crore, of which Rs 19,259 crore is Centre's share and Rs 16,363 crore is the share of the state. Meanwhile, the Centre has already conveyed to the state government that it won't be releasing Jal Jeevan Mission funds for the time being. Earlier this month, The Indian Express reported that the Maharashtra Government informed the Legislative Council that it has not received central funds for the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme since October 2024 and has been using funds from the state's coffers to complete the ongoing projects. It also stated that 51,558 schemes have been sanctioned under the mission, of which 26,009 are still ongoing. However, in a written reply submitted to the Legislative Council, Maharashtra's Water Supply and Sanitation Department informed that the state government has disbursed funds worth Rs 2,483.58 crore to complete the ongoing schemes. 'We are corresponding with the central government to release funds at the earliest. To ensure that ongoing works are not stopped, for the year 2025-26, we have decided to give additional funds worth Rs 3,913 crore,' Meghana Sakore-Bordikar, Minister of State, had informed. Earlier, a day after 35 year-old Harshal Patil committed suicide over non-payment of his dues worth Rs 1.4 crore, Maharashtra's Water Supply And Sanitation Minister Gulabrao Patil claimed that there are no records of pending dues of the said person. Harshal's cousin Akshay Patil told police that the contractor was under immense financial stress. 'His bills worth Rs 1.4 crore were pending and he had also taken loan from money lenders. His financial stress was immense and he used to talk about the same for days,' said Patil. According to his relatives, Harshal left home on Tuesday an did not return home, following which they filed a complaint at Kurlap police station in Sangli district. On Wednesday afternoon, his body was found hanging from a tree in a farm. The Maharashtra State Contractor Association slammed the state government alleging that it has been consistently raising the pending dues worth Rs 89,000 crore for more than two years which were neglected by the state government. The association also released documents showing Patil had sublet the construction work. 'When I heard the news, I took information from the concerned officials. There was no record of pending dues . We do not know if he had sublet the work from any other contractor,' said State's Water Supply and Sanitation minister Gulabrao Patil. Milind Bhosle, president, Maharashtra State Contractor Association, said that large number of small engineers had taken contracts of Jal Jeevan Mission work and the government has not paid their dues. 'There are dues worth Rs 89,000 crore pending and we have been consistently speaking about it. But nobody from the government gave any attention to it. This has now resulted in the suicide of a young contractor. He had also taken loan worth Rs 65 lakh and couldn't repay it since the government did not pay the dues,' said Bhosle. Opposition NCP(SP) leader Jayant Patil said that he had warned the state government in his speech at the legislative Assembly about such a possibility. 'I had warned the possibility of contractors committing suicides. But the government paid no attention to it,' he said. Harshal Patil was a resident of Walwa taluka in Sangli, the home district of Jayant Patil. Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar said that after farmers, contractors are committing suicides in the state. 'The government is responsible for his death. The state has gone bankrupt and there is no one from the government who is looking after it,' he said.
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Jal Jeevan Mission hits financial roadblock in Maharashtra as Centre halts funds since October 2024, ET Infra
Advt By , ETInfra Maharashtra's ongoing efforts to provide safe drinking water to rural households under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) have run into a major financial roadblock , as central funding for the scheme has not been received since October revelation came to light in the Legislative Council through a written reply by Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Gulabrao Patil. With the Centre's withdrawal, the entire burden of funding the scheme falls on the state Patil informed the Council that out of a total of 51,558 sanctioned JJM schemes, 26,009 are still in progress. He stated that the state government has allocated ₹2483.58 crore to ensure the continuity of these ongoing projects. The issue was brought forth by several members, including Congress MLCs Pradnya Satav and Satej to the discussion, Minister of State Meghana Sakore-Bordikar, present in the council, assured that the state is actively pursuing the release of funds from the central government. To prevent any halt in the ongoing works, the state has further committed an additional ₹3,913 crore for the fiscal year state government's reply acknowledged that the pace of JJM works has been impacted by various challenges, including land unavailability, local opposition, delays in obtaining permissions from different departments, contractor issues, failure of water sources, and crucially, a lack of reply specifically highlighted that the ₹2,483.58 crore released by the Maharashtra government was a 'special case' due to the absence of central funds. It was also revealed that three letters have been sent to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry regarding the release of funds, and a meeting with the Union Minister has also taken a flagship initiative of the Union government, aims to provide every rural household in India with safe and adequate drinking water through individual tap connections. Maharashtra has so far spent approximately ₹31,374 crore on the the funding challenges, the state government claims significant progress, with tap connections increasing from an earlier 33 per cent to 88.36 per cent, with the completion of 15,537 schemes.
Hans India
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Maha has not received Central funds for JJM scheme since Oct 2024: Minister
Maharashtra Minister of Water Supply and Sanitation Gulabrao Patil, in a written reply, told the Legislative Council that the state has not received central funds for the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scheme from October 2024, and is using its own funds to complete the ongoing projects. The Minister also informed that a total of 51,558 schemes have been sanctioned, out of which 26,009 are still ongoing. The question was raised by Pradnya Satav, Satej Patil (Congress) and others. Minister Patil said that the state government has given funds worth Rs 2483.58 crore to complete ongoing schemes. However, the Minister of State Meghana Sakore-Bordikar, who was present in the council, intervened and said, 'We are following up with the central government to release funds at the earliest. To ensure that the ongoing works are not stopped, for the year 2025-26, we have decided to give additional funds worth Rs 3913 crore.' The state government's reply accepted that the pace of the works undertaken in Jal Jeevan Mission has slowed due to the unavailability of lands, opposition of locals, permissions from different departments, delays from contractors, failure of sources and lack of funds. The reply stated that Rs 2483.58 crore has been released as a special case from the Maharashtra government since the centre has not released funds for the scheme. It mentioned that three letters had already been sent to the Jalshakti ministry to release funds, and a meeting with the union minister was also held. JJM was envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. The scheme under JJM refers to various components and initiatives implemented to ensure this aim. Till now, the state has spent around Rs 31,374 crore. As per the government claims, the tap connection has now increased from earlier 33 per cent to 88.36 per cent with the completion of 15,537 schemes.
Indian Express
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Maharashtra to spend Rs 8,920 crore to revise 18k schemes under Jal Jeevan Mission
The Maharashtra government is set to release Rs 8,920 crore to revise 18,832 schemes across thousands of villages under the Jal Jeevan Mission after having failed to take up the works on account of various reasons. 'The revision will have to take place. We have conveyed it to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the proposal has been cleared,' said a senior official from the state's Water Supply and Sanitation department. The Jal Jeevan Mission was envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections to all households in rural India by 2024. Around 51,560 schemes are currently underway in the state to implement the mission. Among the schemes to be revised, 16,881 cost up to Rs 1 crore, which will be sanctioned by the Water Supply department, while the remaining 1,951 cost above Rs 1 crore and are to be greenlighted by the Finance department. Among the reasons that led to the revision in the schemes include exclusion of some hamlets or villages in the earlier design, failure to draw water from the intended source, inability to get land for water tank despite resolution passed by villages, and change in water tank location leading to change in design. An increase of 6 per cent in Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the works – now it is 18 percent – also had to be factored in. Out of the 18,832 schemes to be revised, 7,184 are those in which GST rate changes will be applied and some faced cost escalation. It will add a burden of Rs 639 crore which will be equally borne by the state and the Centre. The other 11,648 schemes faced the aforementioned technical reasons, which will cost the state exchequer Rs 8,601 crore. As per government data, while 27,292 villages in the state have received 100 per cent water supply, the work is in progress in 12,777 villages, and the water supply work is yet to start in 228 villages. Maharashtra has so far spent around Rs 31,374 crore for the Jal Jeevan Mission. As per the government's claim, tap connections have now increased from 33 per cent to 88.36 per cent with the completion of 15,537 schemes. The Expenditure Finance Committee's plan for the year 2019-20 – when the mission was launched – was to release Rs 3,60,648 crore nationally for the works, while Maharashtra's plan was to release Rs 20,627 crore. It has now grown to Rs 8,38,385 at the national level and Rs 62,174 crore (rise of 201%) for the state.
