The fate of nearly 1638 water supply schemes in the State of Jammu and Kashmir is hanging in balance for want of funding. The critical situation arises out of insensitivity of the PHE Department in failing to implement a number of drinking water schemes proposed from time to time during some years in the past. Insistence of the Union Government on the State sticking to time frame in regard to various centrally sponsored schemes has had no impact of the administration. It appears that the PHE Department has been taken almost unawares when the Union Government announced squeezing of funds. Union Government launched National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) with the sole objective of providing every rural household with adequate safe water for drinking, cooking and other domestic basic needs on a sustainable basis. Several schemes were sanctioned for rural Jammu and Kashmir annually. Gradually, the number of such schemes increased considerably and people hoped for access to safe drinking water. Till 2014, the State Government was receiving Rs 537 crore per annum under NRDWP from the concerned Union Ministry. In July 2015, the State Level Schemes Sanctioning Committee explicitly conveyed to the officers of the Public Health Engineering Department to lay focus on completion of ongoing schemes during 2015-16 financial year by working out action plan as per the allocation of previous year (Rs 537 crore). Inability of the PHE Department to heed the warning of the Chief Secretary shows how irresponsibly the department performs. Perhaps the functionaries have got used to the system of dragging on the schemes from year to year. The fundamental problem is that the State Government is usually reluctant to set the time frame for any major scheme. At the same time, if there is a centrally sponsored scheme with time frame, the State Government is still unable to keep it. What has happened in the present case is that the Union Ministry for Drinking Water and Sanitation squeezed funding of schemes running under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) in the State. It has advised the State to make up the shortfall through its own resources. It declined to approve new schemes unless ongoing schemes were completed.
The point is that 1638 schemes (800 in Kashmir and 836 in Jammu region) of supplying drinking water to the rural population of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be adversely affected by the recent decision. The State Government, as is often reported, is not in financial position to raise the pending amount to complete the schemes. There are suggestions that the State Government should try other funding sources like the World Bank. One is not sure whether the international agencies would be forthcoming. The reason is that foreign aid in such cases is always conditional and it is for the State Government and the Union Finance Ministry to decide whether conditions imposed by the lending agencies like the World Bank would be acceptable or not.
A situation has arisen in which insensitivity and lethargy on the part of the PHE Department has put the lives of millions of people in jeopardy. People mostly of rural areas were jubilant that their long standing problem of non accessibility to drinking water would be solved with these schemes taking shape in due course of time. They are disappointed. However, the matter cannot be left where it rests today. Water is a necessity of life and the Governments are duty bound to provide drinking water to all citizens. Therefore, a via media shall have to be found and the State Government should open talks with the Union Ministry of Drinking Water to resolve the tangle. No party should take positions as it is a matter of life and health of millions of people of the State.
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