Minister in-charge Public Health Engineering (PHE) Marcuise N Marak on Wednesday said that the department has resolved the problems with Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) implementation at Nekikona area, under Selsella Block in West Garo Hills district in Meghalaya.
Earlier, it was alleged by former MDC of GHADC, Sofior Rahman that in the Nekikona area, not a single functional house tap connection was provided in any of the 26 villages and neither was the main pipeline connected to these villages. The work order was issued in December 2021 and the scheduled completion day was December 31 last year.
Despite the alleged lack of work, more than Rs 51 crore was paid out to the contractor, Rahman alleged.
Reacting to this, the PHE Minister admitted that Nekikona had some problems.
“We are addressing that issue, yes, there was a problem in Nekikona for which the department have already sanctioned the project which will be done now,” Marak said.
Meanwhile, the PHE Minister informed that 73.69 percent of the 6.51 lakh targeted households have been provided with functional tap connection under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
Speaking to reporters, Marak said, “We are looking for 100% water connection by March of this year. Let’s see what we can do.”
He said, “The work is going on full swing but some issues and some of the work, the terrain is such that it is very difficult but we are doing our level best and before monsoon we are trying to complete the works.”
Asked, Marak said that some of the projects under JJM mostly in Jaintia Hills and East Khasi Hills have been affected due to the failure to get power connection.
According to him, this is because most of the projects in the Khasi and Jaintia regions are pumping projects and they require power connection for supplying water to the household taps.
“Therefore, we have directed our department officials to get in touch with the MeECL officials and then work in collaboration with them,” Marak told reporters.
Marak said that he would also soon flag the issue before the chief minister Conrad K Sangma for his intervention.
“I will request him (CM) to have a joint meeting of power department and PHE so that we can resolve it at the earliest,” he added.