Jal Jeevan scheme: Annamalai says only 50% target met in TN, DMK counters it

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An allegation by Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tamil Nadu state president K Annamalai that the Jal Jeevan Scheme was not effectively implemented in the state has resulted in a war of words between the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and BJP supporters. In an interview to TNM’s Editor-in-Chief Dhanya Rajendran, Annamalai claimed that implementation of Jal Jeevan Scheme is poor in Tamil Nadu when compared to Karnataka. He said that the state was able to provide pipe water connections to only 50% of houses under it.

Jal Jeevan Mission is a scheme to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. Annamalai said that while Karnataka has completed 66% of the project, Tamil Nadu could only achieve 50% of the target. He also said that the targets achieved in 2019 were 16 percent in Karnataka and 19 percent in Tamil Nadu respectively.

However, according to Jal Jeevan Mission’s official dashboard, Tamil Nadu has achieved 64.52% of the target with 80,98,613 water pipe connections whereas Karnataka achieved 67.79% with pipe connections to 68,58,176 households.

Calling Annamalai’s claims false, DMK’s IT wing tweeted: ‘Shameless chief BJP liar of the state has blabbered once again. The BJP's own Union Govt data shows that TamilNadu outperformed all states!” The handle also attached screenshots from the Jal Jeevan Mission’s dashboard and a news report to substantiate the claim. The news report, dated October 13, 2022, shows that Tamil Nadu is the only state to achieve the Jal Jeevan Mission target for 2022 Q1 and Q2.

Shameless chief BJP liar of the state #மக்கு_மலை has blabbered once again
The BJP's own Union Govt data shows that TamilNadu outperformed all states! pic.twitter.com/LBgIgeAGCt

— DMK IT WING (@DMKITwing) May 3, 2023

DMK also reminded Annamalai that the Tamil Nadu government received an award from President Murmu for providing tap water connections to rural areas under Jal Jeevan Mission.

Countering the DMK, a BJP supporter Krishna Kumar Murugan tweeted that DMK had exaggerated the amount of work done and Annamalai submitted a complaint to the Tamil Nadu Governor alleging a scam. “30.11.2022: Thalaivar @annamalai_k with proof, had complained to TN Governor about the multi-hundred crore scam in Jal Jeevan Scheme in TN where just taps were placed, and no connecting pipes laid, contractors given completion certificates, utilisation certificates sent to the centre, money swallowed,” said the tweet. A video with similar complaints from Thiruvannamalai had surfaced in social media in the end of November 2022, Krishnakumar said in another tweet.

Watch: Annamalai interview: No proof of corruption against BJP Karnataka govt| Karnataka Election 2023

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