A CAG audit of Gujarat’s Jal Jeevan Mission has found that nearly 89 per cent of water samples tested in selected villages were not fit for drinking, while the report also flagged delays, accounting errors and invalid expenditure in the implementation of the rural tap-water programme.
The audit report was tabled in the Gujarat Assembly on Friday, the final day of the monsoon session, and covers the mission’s implementation between 2019-20 and 2023-24. Its findings have brought renewed attention to the gap between reported household tap connections and the quality and reliability of the water being supplied.
According to the report as cited in the source material, water-quality testing in selected villages found that approximately 89 per cent of the samples examined were unsafe for drinking. The audit also identified deficiencies in the testing of water quality across the state. The findings do not establish that every water source or village in Gujarat is affected, but they indicate significant shortcomings in the locations covered by the audit.
The CAG report further pointed to project delays and financial irregularities. Incorrect accounting and payments for invalid expenditure allegedly resulted in contractors receiving additional payments worth crores of rupees. The source report does not provide a consolidated value for the disputed payments or identify the individual contracts involved.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge used the findings to criticise the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat. In a post on X, he alleged that the state government’s claim of 100 per cent tap connections in 2022 had been contradicted by the audit and claimed that 14 lakh families were still waiting for water connections. Those figures were presented by Kharge and are separate from the audit findings directly described in the source report.
Kharge also alleged that several parts of Gujarat continue to face drinking-water stress. He referred to Rajkot and Jamnagar in Saurashtra and to drought-related difficulties in Kutch and Saurashtra. He additionally cited a report about 54 people in Dholka, Ahmedabad district, allegedly dying from cancer linked to contaminated water. The supplied report attributes this claim to Kharge; it does not provide an independent official confirmation or medical investigation establishing the cause of death.
The Jal Jeevan Mission is intended to extend household tap-water access, making both connection coverage and water safety central to its implementation. The Gujarat audit, as described, raises questions about whether infrastructure reporting is being matched by functional service delivery and regular quality monitoring. A tap connection alone does not demonstrate that households receive safe, adequate and reliable water.
The report also places financial controls within the wider delivery challenge. Delayed projects, incorrect accounting and payments for invalid expenditure can affect the pace of construction and the public cost of rural water infrastructure. The source material does not state what corrective action the Gujarat government or implementing agencies have announced following the report’s tabling.
The next steps will depend on the state government’s response to the CAG findings, including any clarification on the tested samples, household connection figures, contractor payments and measures to improve water-quality monitoring. No response from the Gujarat government is included in the supplied report.
