By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 3: As pressure mounts on the government from contractors over unpaid Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) bills amounting to more than Rs 700 crore, PHE Minister Marcuise Marak has explained that multiple central directives have stalled the state’s ability to clear dues.
The All Jaintia Contractors and Suppliers Association (AJCSA), along with contractors from across Khasi-Jaintia Hills, had sharply criticised the prolonged delay, saying their bills had remained unpaid since 2019 despite completion of several water supply projects.
AJCSA president Welcoming Langi had said the prolonged uncertainty had pushed contractors to the brink, adding that senior officials only told them that payments would be released “soon” without any clarity on the actual timeline.
Responding to the growing outcry, Marak said the delays were linked to several factors, beginning with the Centre’s directive to extend the JJM timeline to 2028 and to carry out a detailed reconciliation of exceeded expenditure.
He said this was a massive exercise that took the PHE department nearly three to four months as it involved almost every project under the mission.
Marak added that the government was also complying with the Centre’s instruction to geo-tag all JJM projects. He further explained that the Government of India had placed a condition requiring states that had already received their state share of the JJM funds to fully utilise them first.
Meghalaya, he said, had already received more than Rs 700 crore as state’s share from the Centre and this pending utilisation was the reason the government was unable to make payments. According to him, the situation was not unique to Meghalaya and no State in the country had received fresh releases from the Centre.
The Minister said the government was making efforts to convince the Centre to release the funds before Christmas, noting that Meghalaya is a Christian-majority State and that the government was duty-bound to look after its people. He added that Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had already submitted a memorandum to the Centre last week and that they would seek a meeting with the Prime Minister if the situation remained unresolved.
When asked if contractors had approached him directly, Marak said the department was fully aware of the challenges they faced, adding that engineers met them regularly and kept them informed about developments.
On the current status of the mission, he said the JJM was ongoing but payment delays meant contractors could not be pushed to work aggressively, leading to stagnation in some areas. He placed the overall completion at more than 83 per cent.
