Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta on Thursday said that the certification of completed works under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is of paramount importance and should be carried out for all the finished works by the concerned department.

He made these remarks during a periodical review meeting held by him to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the Mission in the UT.

The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, Jal Shakti Department; CEO, JJM; Chief Engineers and other concerned officers of the department.

Outstation based officers participated in the meeting through video conferencing.

Dr Mehta impressed upon the officers to speed up their pace of work so that the deadline is not missed further. He enjoined upon them to enhance their outreach activities also for the awareness of masses. He told them to give special focus on the works the demands of which had been made during the Back to Village or upcoming My Town My Pride programmes.

The Chief Secretary exhorted upon the senior officers of the department to visit all the works themselves either physically or virtually to have better idea about the overall progress. He directed them to take feedback from Panchayat representatives and public about these works. He asked them to give due priority to the water quality and sustainability of source of each scheme.

Dr Mehta further urged the department to constitute the District PMUs forthwith for quality monitoring of the execution of works. He also told them to train the persons in these PMUs for effective implementation of this Mission as per its objectives.

The need repackaging the irresponsive tenders was discussed at length. He complimented the department for adopting a professional management technique like Critical Path Method (CPM) to have insights about their weak areas and thereby formulation of suitable action plan. He said that the officers should be made aware about its proper use and understanding. He asked the department to implement online billing by executing agencies immediately. He suggested them to see for analogies in other government departments and customize the same to meet their requirements.

The Principal Secretary informed the meeting that the department is looking into the possibility of allotting nearly 328 works of laying pipe networks simultaneously.

He further elucidated that nearly 70000 Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) had been provided under this Mission. It was said that out of 2504 allotted works 1409 are under various stages of completion. It was also revealed that 168 works stands completed and up to December end all the works of the Mission would be allotted for execution and timely completion.