Action to be Taken Against Illegal Water Connections; Campaign Begins October 5: Principal Secretary, PHED

Jaipur, October 1: Principal Secretary of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), Mr. Bhaskar A. Sawant, announced that a campaign will be launched starting October 5 to identify and take action against illegal water connections across the state. He emphasized that the campaign should not only focus on taking stringent action but also on regularizing the water connections of consumers found to have illegal connections.

Mr. Sawant made these remarks during a review meeting held at Jal Bhawan on Tuesday, which discussed the progress of the Amrit 2.0 scheme, the Jal Jeevan Mission, and the issue of illegal water connections. He expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of technical approvals for water supply projects in 183 municipalities under the Amrit 2.0 Mission and called for the remaining approvals to be issued promptly.

He noted that complaints about water theft and illegal connections are being received continuously. Thousands of illegal water connections have already been identified in many cities, but the number of disconnections has been disproportionately low. He instructed that all illegal connections from the main water supply and distribution lines be identified before the campaign begins. He also stated that FIRs should be filed against individuals with illegal connections under the PDP Act.

The Principal Secretary further directed that pending drinking water connections in Jaipur city be resolved quickly, with effective oversight at the level of Executive Engineers. He warned that strict action would be taken against any officer or personnel found to be negligent in their duties. He also called for close monitoring of the process from the moment a new water connection is applied for online until it is successfully installed. While reviewing the Jal Jeevan Mission, Mr. Sawant stressed the need to accelerate the implementation of Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) and instructed that progress under the Jal Jeevan Mission be reviewed daily at the field level.

The meeting was attended by MD of the Jal Jeevan Mission, Mr. Qamar Ul Zaman Chaudhary, Chief Engineer and Additional Secretary Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Chief Engineer (Urban) Mr. Manish Beniwal, Chief Engineer (Quality Control) Mr. R.K. Meena, and other senior engineers.