The State government has sanctioned ₹500 crore more towards its share for the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) rural household tap connection scheme, the Water Resources department said on Friday.
Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine said the Centre is yet to release the second instalment for the 2024-25 fiscal. The State government has authorised the release of ₹500 crore for urgently settling the bills of the contractors, he said.
Equal share
The Centrally assisted JJM is to be implemented in Kerala at a total cost of ₹44,714.79 crore. Of this ₹11,643.57 has been sanctioned so far, including the ₹500 crore now released by the State government. The State and Centre share the cost equally.
On Thursday, the Opposition UDF had slammed the LDF government for poor implementation of the JJM, pointing out that Kerala was at the bottom of the national implementation list. Mr. Augustine had replied that the coverage will cross 550 panchayats by January-February 2026 and 85% of the rural households across the State by the end of the current LDF government’s term.
Recently, the Union government had extended the deadline for JJM till 2028, much to the relief of the States, including Kerala. Of the 70.77 lakh rural households in the State, 38.51 lakh households have tap connection at present, according to the data with the Jal Shakti Ministry.
Published – March 21, 2025 05:47 pm IST
