Senapati, August 18: In a strong and united stand against corruption and fraudulent implementation of government schemes, representatives of all major Naga tribal communities of Senapati District — including the Poumai, Mao, Maram, Zeliangrong, and Thangal — led by R. K. Paul Chawang, Social Activist and Human Rights Defender, have jointly submitted a petition to His Excellency Shri Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Governor of Manipur, demanding immediate intervention into the widespread misappropriation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) “Har Ghar Jal” scheme across the district.
The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) was launched by the Government of India with the vision of providing safe and adequate drinking water through household tap connections to every rural home by 2024. However, in Senapati District, the scheme has reportedly been grossly misused and misreported by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), Senapati Division.
Earlier, R. K. Paul Chawang filed an RTI application seeking complete information on JJM implementation in the entire Senapati District. The PHED, Senapati, provided DPR details of only 30 villages and withheld details of 135 villages, even though the official JJM Dashboard shows cumulative data for all 135 villages.
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According to reliable sources and official data from PHED, Senapati, JJM covers 32 villages in the district, of which 30 are shown as completed and two as in progress. Under the New Development Bank (NDB), a total of 103 villages are covered, where 12 are reported as completed and 91 as in progress. In total, 11,264 households are shown as covered under Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) (JJM – 7,804 households and NDB – 3,461 households). This reported data, however, requires a serious reality check on the ground to uncover the truth behind the alleged JJM scam in the district.
In many villages, isolated cemented taps without any water pipelines have been constructed merely to showcase “work done,” while not a single household is receiving drinking water through these supposed connections.
Shockingly, on the official JJM Dashboard portal of ejalshakti.gov.in, villages are falsely shown as having functional household tap connections, clearly indicating fabricated reporting by officials in collusion with contractors.
Furthermore, the District PHED Department has been submitting false data reports to the State PHED, and the State Government has been compiling and forwarding such fabricated data to the Central Government. This falsification of JJM data on the online dashboard must be stopped immediately, the tribe representatives stated, urging the Governor to set up an independent third-party committee to conduct fact-finding on the ground at the earliest.
According to the team behind the RTI, villagers remain unaware of the scheme’s sanctioned scope and budget, allowing contractors and department officials to exploit this lack of awareness to embezzle funds meant for rural welfare.
“Our findings clearly show how crores of rupees under JJM and NDB funding have been siphoned off in the name of clean drinking water. What exists on paper is a stark contrast to the reality on the ground. This is not just corruption — it is a violation of the fundamental rights of our rural communities,” said R. K. Paul Chawang, Social Activist and Human Rights Defender.
Women leaders and youth from several villages have also shared testimonies of struggling daily for water access, while government records falsely claim their villages enjoy “Har Ghar Jal.”
The denial of clean drinking water due to corruption directly violates the right to life and dignity of rural citizens as enshrined in the Constitution of India. Women, children, and the elderly are the most affected, as they continue to bear the burden of fetching water from distant and often unsafe sources.
In their joint memorandum to the Governor of Manipur, the tribal representatives strongly appealed for:
- Constitution of a third-party independent enquiry committee to investigate the execution of JJM projects in Senapati District;
- Strict legal action against PHED officials, contractors, and individuals responsible for misappropriation and fraudulent reporting;
- Accountability and transparency in the use of central government resources meant for rural welfare;
- Immediate suspension of false reporting practices and rectification of fabricated data on the JJM dashboard through ground verification.
This initiative represents a historic coming together of all major Naga tribal communities of Senapati District — Poumai, Mao, Maram, Zeliangrong, and Thangal — cutting across village and community lines to raise a united voice against corruption.
The representatives reaffirmed their commitment to continue engaging with village authorities, youth organizations, and women’s groups to document ground realities and demand accountability.
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“The Jal Jeevan Mission is a flagship program of the Government of India, and we welcome its vision. But if such large-scale corruption is allowed to go unchecked in Senapati, it sets a dangerous precedent for the rest of Manipur and the Northeast. We call upon the state Governor to act swiftly and decisively,” the memorandum stated.
The community leaders announced that they will continue to monitor the situation, mobilize public opinion, and, if necessary, explore legal options, including Public Interest Litigation (PIL), to safeguard the rights of rural citizens if their demands are not addressed.
