The Nagaland Transparency, Public Rights Advocacy & Direct Action Organisation (NTPRADAO) has alleged a ‘1712.03 Crores Mega JJM (Jal Jeevan Mission) Financial Scam’ in Nagaland and has appealed to the Chief Minister to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the matter.

The Organisation has given the State Government 30 days to unearth “the financial embezzlement and misappropriation case under the PHED Nagaland.” It has also stated that if the Government fails to act within the given timeframe, the NTPRADAO will go on “mass agitation & public protest’ till the Hon’ble PHED Minister Shri. Jacob Zhimomi tenders his resignation on account of “intense public pressure” thereof morally cornering and exposing the state government of its daylight corruption lapses.”

In its press release, the Organisation has questioned the claim made by the PHED that as of October 2024, out of the total 3,63,461 households in Nagaland, 3,35,212 (92.23%) have household tap water supply coverage.

The NTPRADAO stated that it had initiated “an undercover investigation and thorough examination of the various spots i.e. Water storage tanks and Water supply distribution tanks and the layout of the piping system in the villages covered by the JJM under 16 districts in Nagaland” which it said has revealed shortcomings.

Citing an example, it pointed out that in the native village of Deputy Chief Minister Y. Patton in Old Riphyim, Wokha district, “no Functional Household Tap connection (FHTC) has been provided to the rural village households; moreover the entire water tanks constructed were of sub-standard quality and totally failing short of central guidelines in its engineering specifications.” It also alleged that despite of these, the Old Riphyim village authority and the WATSAN (Water and Sanitation) Chairman wilfully issued NOC alongwith Utilization Certificate (UC) implying that each household in Old Riphyim were sufficiently getting tap water supply. This is just one of the instance among the thousand villages JJM has been wrongly implemented the NTPRADAO stated.

Further, the Organisation accused WATSAN (Water and Sanitation) Committee and PHED officials of colluded to embezzle funds by using “inferior quality iron and materials to construct thousands of tanks and not adhering to JJM engineering guidelines”, “passing off old tanks and pipelines as new despite no actual installation occurring,” etc. Furthermore, accusations indicate that despite kilometres after kilometres of water pipelines remaining uninstalled, it said.

It also cited that as per the Jal Jeevan Mission- Har Ghar Jal report, Kiphire district, consisting of 14,991 household across 109 villages, has reported a 100% household tap water supply and 100 villages have been certified (91.74%) as of 7th October 2024. Also, according to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Wokha, comprising of 24,913 household has 22,754 (91.33%) tap water supply. “The NTPRADAO categorically states that the central & state government datas does not represent the ground realities wherein in majority of the villages all over Nagaland, no FHTC tap water connections existed in practical sense,” it claimed.

Besides an SIT, the Organisation has also recommended CBI and ED probe the entire team of PHED Executive Engineers led by Ex. Chief Engineer Er. Repangyangba Longkumer, Ex-Hod and Er. N. Thsathrichem Sangtam, Ex. Chief Engineer-WSSO/Sanitation who served between 2019-2024.

The NTPRADAO has also appealed to the public, affected villagers, the various CSO’s, intellectuals and concern individuals to cooperate and provide feedback and backup support. “As and when the time of the mass public agitation/protest is called into action, it appeals to all to physically participate and voice out till one of the main culprit viz. Jacob Zhimomi is force to resign in guilt and shame”, it stated.

Furthermore, the Organisation alleged that “most of the financial embezzlement of the JJM tap water pipe funds embezzlement points towards the incumbent PHED minister …. as for the non compliance of the central guidelines in construction of water tanks, the department officers from top to bottom are equally to be held responsible.”

It said that according to Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti (Gol)-JJM’s Nagaland Central share allocation fund releases were as such from financial year 2019- 20: 56.49 cr, FY-2020- 21: 114.09 cr, FY- 2021- 22: 444.81 cr, FY-2022-23: 484.28 cr, FY-2023-24: 366.86 cr and FY-2024-25: 39.75 cr (upto October, 2024) totalling 1,506.28 crores sanctioned till date.

In addition to it in 2020-21, Nagaland has been allocated 125 crores as 15th Finance Commission Grants to PRI’S and 50% of this amount was mandatorily to be utilized for water supply/sanitation, which works out to 62.05 crores.

The state share of 10% from financial year 2019-20 till date totalled 143.07 crores till date. Ultimately the grand total for overall funds released from financial year 2019-20 till date stands at whooping 1712.03 crores under the JJM Scheme.