Audit Findings on Water Connection Knowledge
The Comptroller and Auditor Basic has flagged discrepancies in knowledge used to report Gujarat’s 100% practical family faucet connection protection underneath the Jal Jeevan Mission, saying it couldn’t vouch for the reliability of the info.
In accordance with the e-Jalshakti portal and the State Annual Motion Plan, Gujarat had declared 100% practical family faucet connection protection, overlaying 91.18 lakh rural households, by October 2022. Nevertheless, the District Annual Motion Plans of 27 districts confirmed 14.84 lakh households had been ready for practical family faucet connections as on April 1, 2024.
“Resulting from this contradiction, Audit couldn’t vouch for the reliability of the info,” CAG stated in its report tabled within the Gujarat meeting on Friday.
“The absence of primary information, discrepancies between State Annual Plans and District Annual Plans, and mismatched figures between State Annual Motion Plan and District Annual Motion Plans collectively reveal points in knowledge reliability,” it stated.
In its response, the state authorities stated districts may solely add incremental progress on the Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard and couldn’t modify opening or closing balances. It stated the mismatch was technical and procedural and maintained that the aim of offering secure and enough consuming water via faucet connections to all rural households had been achieved.
Gujarat had 91.18 lakh rural households when the Centre launched JJM on August 15, 2019, with the aim of offering a practical family faucet connection (FHTC) to each rural residence by 2024, on a 50:50 cost-sharing foundation between the Centre and the state.
On the mission’s launch in 2019, 65.16 lakh households or 71.46% of the full already had faucet connections via earlier schemes.
The audit additionally discovered that each one 18,024 villages in Gujarat had been reported as Har Ghar Jal compliant, however solely 16,920 villages, or 93.87%, had achieved certification as on August 2025.
Additionally, the report stated that reported water connections didn’t at all times translate into the prescribed water provide. In 4 of the six test-checked districts, 71,842, practically 15% of the surveyed households, remained with out practical family faucet connections as of November 2024.
Its evaluation of 493 bulk water meters put in on a pilot foundation at village storage tanks in 4 districts discovered that 193 meters recorded a median each day provide beneath 55 litres per capita over 24 months, whereas 296 meters recorded zero provide for at the least one full month.
The audit additionally discovered delays in main tasks.
Of 11 bulk pipeline tasks undertaken by Gujarat Water Infrastructure Restricted, 5 had been accomplished with delays of 8 to 25 months and 6 remained in progress. Of 111 Gujarat Water Provide and Sewerage Board works examined in six districts, solely 41, or 36.94%, had been accomplished by December 2024.
The report additionally cited gaps in water high quality monitoring.
Solely 46 of Gujarat’s 249 talukas had a taluka-level laboratory. Additionally, it stated 26% samples examined earlier than the monsoon and 24% of post-monsoon samples lifted between 2019 and 2024 had been discovered to be unfit.
Towards whole funds of ₹19,471.61 crore, the state utilised ₹19,128.18 crore (98.23%) throughout 2019-24.