Huge shortfalls in annual targets, geo-tagged household connections mislabeled in the Lakshadweep sea and 2.13 lakh water connections disconnected within the same month they were provided are among the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) performance audit report on the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Kerala.
While the JJM has helped Kerala make “significant progress” in expanding the functional household tap connections (FHTC) network in its rural areas, planning pitfalls have led to low coverage in vulnerable areas, including “quality” areas and tribal areas, a report tabled in the Kerala Legislative Assembly said on Tuesday.
The audit covered the period from 2019 to 2024. At the national level, JJM assumes 100% coverage of FHTC rural households. In Kerala, the target was 54.45 lakh households at a cost of ₹44,714.79 crore.
Of the 4.04,040,000 FHTC disconnections reported during the audited period, 2,13,991 (52.92%) occurred in the same month they were provided. This indicates a lack of interest on the part of beneficiaries and the possibility that connections were made “without a realistic assessment of the need or extent of water availability,” the report said.
JJM operational guidelines issued by the Jal Shakti Ministry in 2019 required states to geo-tag all water supply system assets for transparency and monitoring purposes. The CAG found that in 5,107 cases the geo-tagged places were displayed outside the designated Kerala district. “In 99 cases, the geotagged data captured in connection with the FHTC related to positions outside the state, including eight cases wrongly tagged in the Lakshadweep Sea,” the audit report said. In a June 2025 reply, the state government attributed such mix-ups to network restrictions in certain areas. “Coordinates were sometimes recorded through computer systems, resulting in location data being captured based on the system’s IP address rather than the actual location,” the government said, adding that the errors had been corrected.
The CAG further noted that the shortfall in achieving the FHTC targets during 2020-21 to 2023-24 ranged from 74.76% to 83.94%, indicating a “disconnect between planning and implementation”. According to Kerala state government, it has not started working on JJM in 2019-20. That is, when it was launched nationwide. This resulted in backlogs from previous years being added to the goals for the following year.
While the target for 2020-21 was 21.42 million connections, the actual connections provided were 4.04 million connections. It was 29.37 lakh and 6.63 lakh in 2021–22 and 32.96 lakh and 5.29 lakh in 2022–23 and 14.54 lakh and 3.66 lakh in 2023–24.
The CAG also found that two test-checked grama panchayats with ‘Har Ghar Jal’ status were still paying the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) for tank truck supplies. Since Har Ghar Jal panchayats are supposed to have 100% of their households supplied with drinking water through FHTC, they were not expected to depend on alternative sources, he noted.
In the Union Budget 2025–26, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the extension of JJM till 2028, which came as a big relief to Kerala. The CAG report on the Kerala JJM assumes significance as Kerala continues to lag behind in implementation nationally. According to the JJM dashboard maintained by the Jal Shakti Ministry, the implementation stands at 54.88%.
Main recommendations to the government
. Create a clear plan for prioritizing requirements according to JJM.
. Devolution of drinking water management to Panchayati Raj institutions.
. Draft action plan including measures for resource sustainability within JJM.
. Establishment of community water treatment plants in areas affected by water quality.
Published – 24 Feb 2026 20:13 IST
