Perform or leave: PHE to JJM contractors

Shillong, Aug 1: PHE Minister, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar said the department is contemplating on taking away work, allotted under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), from contractors who have failed to deliver.
Tongkhar said he is not going to take a drastic step like blacklisting them as was done in the case of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
“But definitely, we will have to re-allot the work of all non-performing contractors to ensure that the implementation of JJM is not affected. We are still falling behind the target and we will have to put in more efforts to speed up implementation,” Tongkhar said.
Earlier, Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma had said the government decided to blacklist 15 firms due to their failure to complete projects under PMGSY.
The PHE minister said the state is targeting piped water connections to all rural households by December next year. The implementation of JJM is only 20% at present, he said.
“We want to achieve a target of 30% plus by the end of this year,” he said.
Meghalaya has 5.89 lakh rural households and the government is planning to provide piped water connections to 1.8 lakh of them in 2020-21. The number of villages targeted during the current fiscal is 1,096.
The PHE Minister and senior officials of the department had recently visited Karnataka on a “study tour” to learn more on the implementation of JJM.