Tapped but dry: Tale of hope and despair flows through Bundelkhand

For hundreds of years, water scarcity and the associated struggles have defined life here.

This is a reality that Ram Sewak, a resident of Karhara village in Mahoba district, and many others like him know only too well.

They yearn for freedom from the region’s trials and tribulations. Their aspirations for a better life partially hinge on the Har Ghar Jal Yojana under the Jal Jeevan Mission. But seven years after the scheme’s launch, residents of his village are still awaiting the supply of piped water and repair of damaged roads. Indeed, the ground reality in the village mirrors the tale of hope and despair that the scheme has become in the region,

Plastic pipes can be seen jutting out of the ground near doors of 35 houses in Karhara, but water has not trickled from pipes there. At some spots, the pipes are buried under heaps of mud and sand.

Across the region, while many targets have been met, faulty execution has plagued several achievements of the scheme in Bundelkhand.

Undoubtedly, Bundelkhand’s success would have been the jewel in the crown of the scheme but loopholes in implementation have surfaced, indicating mixed results.

Ram Sewak says, “The functional household tap connection (FHTC) launched under the Har Ghar Jal scheme of Jal Jeevan Mission came as a ray of hope for us. Water tanks were constructed and pipelines laid across the village. But due to a connectivity fault in the pipeline, several households are not getting piped water. We have lodged a complaint to complete the repair works.”

A majority of the villagers in Bundelkhand region are dependent on wells, hand pumps and water tanks for potable water, he says, summing up the plight of the rural populace.

“During summer, the condition worsens with a fall in the groundwater level. Women have to trudge long distances to collect potable water for domestic use,” he says.

PIPELINE FAULT

Similarly, at Salat village in Mahoba district, underground water pipelines have been laid connecting 55 households. While 10 households get water, the taps in the remaining houses are dry due to a pipeline fault.

Jagat Singh, a villager, says, “A year has passed since the pipeline was laid in the village, but we are yet to get water. The villagers lodged complaints with officials and raised the issue in the village committee meeting, but the work remained incomplete.”

Acknowledging that the installation of water taps under the Har Ghar Jal scheme of the Jal Jeevan Mission has come as a hope for the villagers, Ram Kunwar, another villager, says, “Taps in a majority of the households are dry.”

A majority of these villagers belong to Dalit communities and Other Backward Classes (OBC). They work on agricultural land for their livelihood.

“We cannot afford boring and pumps to collect underground water, but are dependent on the government water supply scheme for potable water,” says Vishwanath Prasad, a former gram pradhan.

Indeed, the Har Ghar Jal scheme launched under the Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019 to supply piped water to approximately 2.67 crore rural households in Uttar Pradesh is under the scanner after lawmakers from both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Samajwadi Party raised the issue of irregularities in the scheme.

The lawmakers alleged that even after seven years, several rural households in various districts are not receiving tap water. They also said dug-up roads, pipeline leakage, and overhead tanks have added to the people’s plight.

During the budget session of the state legislative assembly, the Opposition parties alleged corruption after an overhead water tank constructed for ₹3 crore under the Jal Jeevan Mission, collapsed during testing in Lakhimpur Kheri district. In a separate incident, another overhead water tank started leaking during testing in Mahoba district.

HOW THE ISSUE CAME TO THE FORE

In early February, Brijbhushan Rajput, the BJP MLA from Charkhari, along with local gram pradhans and party supporters blocked Uttar Pradesh Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh’s convoy on the highway while Singh was returning from an event in the district to draw his attention to the problem faced by the people in villages where roads have been dug up to lay pipelines. The overhead tanks and water pipelines are leaking at several spots, adding to the misery of the people, he said.

After the incident, Swatantra Dev Singh called a meeting to review the Jal Jeevan Mission’s progress in the Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions of the state. He said repair works are not completed within the deadline, FIR will be lodged against the construction agencies and action will be taken against engineers, he warned.

On March 25, the state government cracked the whip on 26 engineers. Twelve of the engineers were suspended, departmental inquiry was ordered against four, show cause notice issued to three and seven engineers transferred on the charge of negligence and delays in implementing Jal Jeevan Mission.

Countering the lawmakers’ allegations, the Jal Shakti minister asserted that except some villages, the households in a majority of the villages are receiving water supply. A large portion of roads, which were cut for laying pipelines, had been repaired, he added. In some areas, roads had caved in due to rain and waterlogging, he said.

“We will ensure water supply in all the rural households,” he added.

In several villages of the Bundelkhand region, water has not reached households, and pipe restoration and road repair works are still incomplete. Delays in work and dry water taps have increased the anxiety of the rural people as the temperature rises.

Take the case of Tithwara village where Brajendra Singh, a school teacher, says water is not reaching households due to leakage from overhead tanks.

“Instead, the area around the overhead tank is waterlogged. We have lodged a complaint with the junior engineer, but repair work has not been completed. We have called a meeting of the village committee to take up the matter with the senior officers,” he says.

THE PRICE OF WATER

In Khinariya village, a mini truck laden with water containers moves through the lanes. The villagers negotiate the price of the water containers.

Chatur Singh, the truck owner, says, “We charge ₹150-200 for each 20 litre water container. We transport water containers from Charkhari, 25 km from the village. With the onset of summer, we are collecting the details of customers who need drinking water in the district’s rural areas.”

Blue plastic pipes can be seen at the door of a majority of the houses in the village, but there is no water supply. When asked why they have not lodged a complaint, the villagers take us to the school nearby. The mobile numbers of the junior engineer and the firm’s engineer are mentioned on the boundary wall along with the water supply schedule.

“We have dialled these numbers several times but there is no response,” the villagers say.

In the neighbouring Banda and Jhansi districts too, several villages are not receiving piped water despite the laying of pipelines and construction of overhead tanks. Road repair and pipeline restoration works are pending in several villages.

A dug-up road at Sadha village in Banda’s Naraini area indicates that an underground water pipeline has been laid to supply water to 75 households. The taps have not been installed though there are pipes at the doorstep of a majority of the houses.

“When there is no water supply, we have not demanded taps,” Buddha Singh, a villager, said.

Pointing at the dug-up lanes in the village and damaged pipelines, he says tanks have been constructed but due to a pipeline fault, the water was not reaching the households. The farmers are diverting drinking water from the damaged pipeline to their fields for irrigation, he says.

The dug-up road has turned into a nightmare for villagers as the fear of falling into a trench looms large. Some elderly villagers and children fell into the trench and sustained injuries, says Neera Bai and adds she has opposed the digging of roads near houses.

The road has not been repaired, she says, adding that the elderly and children are forced to remain indoors.

In the nearby Raxi village, former gram pradhan Suryabhan Tiwari is holding a meeting with villagers to discuss the problem of potable water during summer.

“There are around 125 houses in the village. Some of the households are getting piped water while the houses in the village interior are facing water scarcity. The construction agency has assured us that roads will be repaired after the water pipelines are connected to the water tank. We hope that water supply to all the households is restored soon. When the temperature shoots up during the summer, the hardship of villagers will increase,” he says.

Pointing at boulders on the roadside, Tiwari says the village concrete road was cut to lay pipelines, but repair work has not been done by the construction agency.

“The Har Ghar Jal scheme is double whammy for us. On one hand, walking on the road has become difficult due to boulders. On the other hand, the village is in the grip of water scarcity,” he adds.

The villagers also take us to the spot where an overhead tank has been constructed. A board has been installed near the tank stating that the construction work under the Har Ghar Jal scheme commenced in September 2020. The agency spent ₹1340 crore to complete the work in September 2022 to supply water to five villages and 3,689 beneficiaries. The villagers says regular water supply was not ensured in the village.

At Birguan village in Jhansi, Kalicharan, a villager, points to dry plastic and iron pipes emerging from below the ground.

“Our village with around 130 households is spread on both sides of the road. Near some households, pipes have been laid, but the taps are missing. When water flows from the overhead tanks, it gushes out of the pipes, flooding the courtyards. There is no tap to stop the water,” he says.

A group of women seated in the courtyard of the house highlights the problem.

“We have raised the issue in an open meeting with officers and lodged a complaint,” they say.

Kunwar Devi, Asha, Neelam, Shobha and Seema Gautam say they are running a self-help group (SHG) to increase their income.

Owing to erratic water supply, they have to focus on storing potable water from handpumps and wells nearby, leaving little time for SHG work and education of children.

Badam Singh, resident of Rundkarai village near Jhansi- Gwalior highway, says the construction agency laid a pipeline across the village, but “we are awaiting installation of functional water taps”.

“We have lodged an online complaint and hope that all the houses get taps and water during the summer,” he says.

GROUND ZERO

Brijbhushan Rajput, the BJP MLA from Charkhari, is at ground zero in the villages of Mahoba to check if the works have been completed.

He alleges roads have not been repaired, pipelines have not been restored and several villages are not getting piped water.

The construction agencies and local officers have sent the wrong report to the state government, he claims.

“The Jal Jeevan Mission is the flagship project of the central government to supply piped water to rural households. The project was launched in 2019. Even after seven years, the supply of water remains a distant dream in several villages. The villagers are restless with the onset of summer as the water is scarce in Bundelkhand.”

“The villagers’ anger might have an adverse impact on the fortunes of NDA candidates in the 2027 assembly elections as the state government had promised that all rural households will get tap water,” he says.

WHAT MINISTER SAYS

Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh says, “The construction agencies and engineers have been instructed to repair dug-up roads and restore water pipelines. The villagers will not face water scarcity.”

The state government has set a target to provide functional water tap connections to approximately 2.67 crore households in Uttar Pradesh. Till February-end, tap connections were provided to 2.43 crore (91.10%) households, according to the UP Jal Shakti department data.

VITAL STATISTICS

The districts of Bundelkhand region lead in the tap connections, including Banda 99.91%, Chitrakoot 99.83%, Mahoba 99.83%, Hamirpur 99.55%, Lalitpur 99.51%, Jhansi 99.16% and Jalaun 98.17%, according to Jal Shakti Department data.

Out of 16.87 lakh households in 6535 villages of seven districts of Bundelkhand, functional household tap connections have been provided to 16.64 lakh households. The department has laid a 57,695-km water pipe distribution network in seven districts. During the laying of the water pipelines, 9760 km roads were dismantled and by February end, 9416 km roads were repaired.

“Agencies are working to meet the target set by the state government to provide piped water supply to all the households by the year-end,” says SP Singh, a faculty in the earth science department, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi.

“Due to over-exploitation, the groundwater quality has deteriorated in various districts of Bundelkhand. The water bodies located in the hilly areas are contaminated. No doubt, the people in the rural areas are in the grip of water-borne disease or gastro-intestinal diseases. With piped water connection, people will get pure drinking water supplied from perennial rivers and big reservoirs. Laboratory tests show that the quality of river water is better than ground water in Bundelkhand. The consumption of quality water will also check maternal and infant mortality,” he says.

RESTRUCTURING THE JAL JEEVAN MISSION

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) operated on a shared funding model between the central and state governments. The funding ratio was 50:50 for Centre and Uttar Pradesh. During the Budget session of Parliament, Union minister of state for Jal Shakti V Somana stated that the central government has stopped federal funding for the Jal Jeevan Mission and states have been asked to finish the rest of the work using their own finances. Later the Uttar Pradesh government had announced that it will complete the project through its own resources.

In the 2026-27 budget, the Uttar Pradesh government made a provision of ₹22,452 crore for all components of the Jal Jeevan Mission.

Later, the Union Cabinet, in its meeting on March 10, approved the Ministry of Jal Shakti’s proposal to restructure and reorient implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) 2.0 from infrastructure creation to service delivery, supported by drinking water governance and institutional ecosystem for sustainable rural piped potable water supply.

For restructuring JJM, the Cabinet approved enhancement of total outlay to ₹8.69 lakh crore with total central assistance of ₹3.59 lakh crore, enhanced from Rs. 2.08 lakh crore approved in 2019-20.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the central government and the Uttar Pradesh government on March 18 to strengthen access to clean drinking water for the people residing in rural areas of the state under JJM 2.0.

Terming the agreement an important step towards realizing the goal of “Har Ghar Nal se Jal” on the ground, the UP Jal Shakti minister said, “It will enable better planning, timely execution, and improved outcomes in water supply schemes. The people residing in rural areas will directly benefit through access to safe and clean drinking water.”