SHILLONG, DEC 3: The state government has decided to seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to release over Rs 700 crore for clearing pending bills to contractors implementing the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) projects in Meghalaya before Christmas.
“Meghalaya is Christian state and it is duty bound on the part of the government of Meghalaya that we should take care of our own people. Considering that, we are putting our efforts to pursue and convince the government of India to release the money to all Christian states including Meghalaya,” PHE Minister Marcuise N Marak told reporters on Wednesday.
He informed that Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has met Union Minister of Jal Shakti CR Patil and submitted a memorandum on the matter last year.
“In case nothing happens, I have already told the chief minister that we should also meet the Prime Minister (to resolve the issue),” Marak said.
According to the minister, the delay in releasing JJM funds is a pan-India issue as it affects all states.
“The JJM bills (amounting to Rs 700 crore) are not paid to all the contractors because we are yet to receive the government of India fund release,” he said adding “…because of the pending bills, we can’t even ask the contractors to work aggressively. Therefore, work is almost stuck up there.”
Stating that more than 83% of JJM work completed in the state, Marak said that the Centre has extended the deadline to 2028.
“The government of India has directed all the states on the need for reconciliation of exceeded expenditure which has been incurred in almost all the projects,” he stated while announcing the department’s ongoing exercise to complete the process of geo-tagging all projects.
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