SHILLONG, Dec 5: Against the backdrop of BJP clamour over the shoddy implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Meghalaya, the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP)
leader and PHE Minister, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar, has hinted at an ‘agenda’ in the allegations of the saffron party. BJP is a political party after all and one cannot really tell if the issues they are raising do not have political agendas tagged to it, stated the minister.
He made this observation while reacting to the occasional attack of the BJP on the alleged shoddy implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in the state.
“BJP is a political party and they may have agenda behind that we can never know but we are doing our work and we are doing our best,” said Tongkhar while speaking to The Shillong Times.
The PHE minister asserted that Meghalaya is not lagging behind, while adding that the work progress is better in the state if compared with other states.
Stating that a lot of working is going on in a number of villages, he added, “So if one looks at the incomplete work and concludes that the work quality is not good, it may not be correct at this time as the work is going on”.
To a query that the BJP has written to the Centre on the alleged shoddy implementation of JJM in the state, Tongkhar said, “We need to discuss. Officially nothing has come to me but this is my understanding”.
According to the BJP, complaints have also been received about plastic pipes being used in many places instead of GI pipes, and the same have been submitted to the Centre.
The PHE minister had earlier announced in the Assembly that Meghalaya would be able to achieve its target of providing water to every rural household under JJM before December 2022, while the central government has fixed 2024 as the target year for completion of the mission.
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.