The Centre is planning to cut the outlay of its flagship rural tap water scheme or Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) by almost 60 per cent from Rs 67,000 crore allocated in Budget 2025-26 to Rs 17,000 crore in the revised estimates (RE) of the current financial year, The Indian Express has learned.
It is learned that the Ministry of Finance has recently communicated to the Ministry of Jal Shakti about the lower JJM outlay for the year.
Sources said the Ministry of Jal Shakti is still awaiting the Cabinet to approve an extension of the scheme till 2028, and in the absence of such an approval, it was felt the entire budgeted amount could not be spent in the remaining 2-3 months of the financial year.
Presenting the Budget for 2025-26 on February 1, 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the extension of the scheme. “Since 2019, 15 crore households representing 80 per cent of India’s rural population have been provided access to potable tap water connections. To achieve 100 per cent coverage, I am pleased to announce the extension of the Mission until 2028 with an enhanced total outlay.”
Launched in August 2019, the JJM was aimed at providing Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) to provide 55 lpcd (litres per capita per day) drinking water to all rural households in the country by 2024. In the fiscal year 2024-25 too, the Centre had allocated Rs 70,163 crore, but it was cut to Rs 22,694 crore at the RE stage.
The JJM has been marred with irregularities with the government taking a stern view in the middle of 2025. On May 21, 2025, an investigation by The Indian Express showed how changes in the Mission’s guidelines three years back lifted a crucial check on expenditure and led to cost escalations. The investigation found this resulted in additional costs of Rs 16,839 crore or almost 15 per cent more than the estimated cost.
The same month, the government sent over a hundred officials for ground inspection of the JJM works. Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the Jal Shakti Ministry officials to take action against those who have committed irregularities in JJM and to not spare anyone.
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On November 10, The Indian Express had reported that action has been taken against at least 596 officials, 822 contractors and 152 Third Party Inspection Agencies (TPIAs) across 15 states and Union Territories following complaints about financial irregularities and poor quality of work for supplying tap drinking water to rural households.
The scheme’s progress is being regularly reviewed at the highest levels, sources said. They said the government will likely approve its extension by January end.
