Srinagar, Jun 21: People’s Conference (PC) chairman, Sajad Gani Lone on Saturday criticised the Jammu and Kashmir government over its handling of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), calling it a textbook example of administrative failure.
In a detailed post on X (formerly Twitter), Lone described the J&K’s approach to JJM as “an idiot’s guide to failure,” accusing the government of negligence, lack of planning, and institutional paralysis.
“We are water deficit and money deficit, and yet when rare financial opportunities like JJM arise, we in J&K always show up late—after the funds have dried up,” he wrote.
The Jal Jeevan Mission, a centrally sponsored scheme, aims to provide tap water to every rural household in India. While states across the country are racing to tap into the funds by preparing detailed plans and executing projects swiftly, Lone said J&K remains stuck in bureaucratic inertia.
“We are at the mercy of a ‘once upon a time’ type babu, living in a time bubble… scratching his head, inventing ways not to work, and believing money will never come,” Lone said.
The MLA Handwara pointed out critical gaps in human resources within the Public Health Engineering (PHE)/Jal Shakti Department, the agency responsible for implementing JJM in J&K.
“Twenty-five executive engineer posts are vacant between irrigation and water supply departments. In my district alone, technical staff vacancies are nearly 50%. Who will run the department? It won’t run on auto mode,” he wrote.
In a significant development, the recently concluded Assembly session saw the formation of a House Committee to investigate works executed under the JJM. Lone warned that this would only deepen the existing freeze in the system.
“The government believes malpractices have been committed. But the result is that babus have already stopped working. JJM has come to a grinding halt. What a shame,” he posted.
The PC chief also alleged hypocrisy, claiming that many of the irregularities under past water supply schemes occurred during previous tenures of the same political dispensation now ordering the probe.
“Mark my words. As on date, there is money out there. You have to go and grab it. But we are busy with theatre. By the time our theatre flops, money in JJM will have dried up.”
