3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Mar 10, 2026 03:13 PM IST
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved extension of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) till 2028, with an allocation of Rs 1.51 lakh crore, The Indian Express has learnt.
A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of the Union Cabinet that met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced extension of the JJM till 2028, with “with an enhanced total outlay”, while presenting the Union Budget 2025-26 on 1st February last year. However, the proposal was not approved till Tuesday.
It is learnt that the Rs 1.51 lakh crore JJM allocation approved by the Union Cabinet is lower as compared to the amount earlier sought by the Jal Shakti Ministry. The Jal Shakti Ministry is the nodal ministry that oversees implementation of the JJM.
As reported by The Indian Express on April 21, 2025, the Jal Shakti Ministry had sought an allocation of Rs 2.79 lakh crore for the JJM for the period till 2028. However, the Ministry of Finance has turned down the demand in wake of the concerns over irregularities in the implementation of the rural tap water scheme.
Sitharaman in her budget last year, had allocated Rs 67,000 for the JJM for the current financial year (2025-26) but this was revised downward to Rs 17,000 crore in the revised estimates (RE). The sources say that this amount too remain unspent as the approval has come in the last month of the financial year.
Launched in August, 2019, the JJM was aimed at providing Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) to provide 55 lpcd (litre per capita per day) drinking water to all rural households in the country by 2024.
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Marred with irregularities and corruption, the JJM saw a series of actions during fiscal year 2025-26. In May last year, the Center sent over a hundred teams of officials for the 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.
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 received about financial irregularities and poor quality of work under the Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission for supplying drinking water through individual tap connections to rural households.
On May 21, The Indian Express published the findings of its investigation of data uploaded by states and UTs on the JJM dashboard, which showed how changes in the Mission’s guidelines three years ago lifted a crucial check on expenditure and led to cost escalations. The investigation found that this resulted in additional costs totalling Rs 16,839 crore for 14,586 schemes — an increase of 14.58 per cent from their estimated cost.
