3rd Party Monitoring of Central Schemes

I have been observing for the last one year that many roads which were blacktopped by PWD (R&B) in J&K have been damaged this summer to lay drinking water pipes under Jal Jeevan Mission -JJM which is a well-funded centrally sponsored scheme. In-fact these pipes are not laid in the middle of the road but are placed on the sides but as most of our roads are narrow the road edges with thick bitumen layers get damaged. Ironically there is no official deadline given regarding restoration of these roads. Infact the road cut permission is given by the PWD R&B and necessary funds are also deposited before the authorities at helm like concerned District Magistrates, but when it comes to road restoration , that is not done. The Govt of India has given a task to monitor implementation of centrally sponsored schemes though independent agencies also known as Third Party Inspection and Monitoring Agencies (TPIMA) but people are unaware about these agencies. Recently I spoke to a Sarpanch Feroz Ahmad from Futlipora village in Pakherpora block of Budgam district and when I asked him about TPIMA he told me that he had heard this name for the first time. I video recorded Feroz Ahmad’s statement and posted that on social media as well.

Third Party Monitoring JJM

In February 2022 Jal Shakti Department, Jammu appointed Delhi-based infrastructure consultancy company, Rudrabhishek Enterprises Ltd (REPL) for inspection and quality monitoring of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) program in 10 districts of Jammu Division. The agreement was signed between Manesh Bhat (Chief Engineer, Jal Shakti (PHE) Department, Jammu) and Dr Harish Sharma Executive Director -REPL. As per the media reports the Executive Director -REPL said that their agency will assist the Jal Shakti Department in effective supervision, quality monitoring and transparency in implementation of JJM in Jammu division.

“We will review, inspect and monitor the construction works, quality tests to verify the adherence of quality control, safety measures, and streamline the quality control and payment process. We will also monitor the functioning of infrastructure during trail run.” said the Executive Director

When it comes to monitoring of JJM projects in J&K, the PHE Jal Shakti has assigned this work to Water and Power Consultancy Services Limited- WAPCOS which is a consultancy service provider under the ownership of the Government of India and its administrative control lies with the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Even as the Govt appointed these third parties to monitor Jal Jeevan Mission -JJM works in Jammu & Kashmir, their presence is not felt on the ground nor are people aware about them and this I already explained above ? If people have concerns about the JJM projects they approach Govt agencies only or PHE Jal Shakti officials , the reason is they are not aware about Third Party Inspection and Monitoring Agencies (TPIMA). Ironically
Pertinently the third party agency WAPCOS which is a government-owned consultancy services firm with about 60-70 employees in Kashmir was not paid the consultancy fees for many months by the Jal Shakti Department. This had caused serious concern and halted the work as well in many areas. This issue was reported by local media last year in September.

One fails to understand how can a third party inspection and monitoring agency -TPIMA work independently or transparently if it relies on the same Govt agency for payment of consultancy fees ? The TPIMA cannot work as a watchdog in such circumstances.

Work scope for TPMIA

The Third Party Monitoring and Inspection Agency-TPMIA inspects the works combined with the village panchayat or Village Water and Sanitation Committee – VWSC and Rural Development Department. They have a mandate to carry out inspection of all engineering works relating to civil, mechanical and electrical components executed under in-village infrastructure covering the following aspects :

Sample checking, test report of the materials used for construction, quality control measures adopted at the time of construction in the field, safety measures adopted at the time of construction in the field, payment for labour by the executing agency/contractor/ vendor, quantity and quality of works executed as per the bill for payment claimed. The third party can carry out inspection of all engineering works relating to civil, mechanical and electrical components.

Forests impacted, Pipes not placed deep

More than Rs 5000 crores (Rs 50 Billion) have been allocated by Government of India to J&K under Jal Jeevan Mission this financial year. Large number of projects are being executed by PHE-Jal Shakti Department across the nook and corner of J&K, but during execution of the works large scale vandalization of roads and forest land is taking place. There is no coordination between different Govt agencies and third party inspection and monitoring agencies -TPIMA. Forest landscape is being destroyed openly and there is no one to guide the contractor. Even the third party agency officials , engineers of PHE Jal Shakti or Forest officials are not seen at the site in the remote forest areas where pipelines are laid in clear violation of Indian Forest Act and other environmental laws. The Forest Department is mute spectator and all the work is done by a JCB Crane operator ? This is totally unacceptable. Recently in Yusmarg and Doodh Pathri forests of Budgam I found JCBs and cranes have plundered forest land to lay the drinking water pipelines. I didn’t see the third party monitoring agency, officers of the forest department or local tourism development agency around these sites ? The entire forest land has been kept at the disposal of the JCB crane operator and he does what he wants ? The Chadoora Surasyar road has been damaged a lot as several pipelines have been laid under this road. The road was damaged in 2017 when Nowhar- Kralpora pipeline was laid by ERA. It was again damaged last year and this year as pipeline under JJM was laid. The road is in a shabby condition for last 3 years now. Locals told me that contactor from PWD R&B isn’t ready to blacktop it as he is worried that pipes laid around the road might get punctured while road is metalled and blacktopped. Infact in many areas the pipes laid under JJM inside the soil are not placed deep as per the work estimates. This is another issue which needs to be thoroughly investigated and TPIMA’s must look into it as well.

Conclusion

The Govt must frame a time bound policy for road repairs damaged due to laying of drinking water pipes under JJM. The depth of the trenches be checked while laying of pipes. Leave aside blacktopping of road edges, the road sides without bitumen which are opened up are not even levelled with small road rollers ? The muck is simply put on these small trenches which look so shabby. In rainfall these roads turn muddy and nobody takes any responsibilities. The engineers of PWD-R&B officials are also mute spectators due to the reasons best known to them ? In order to make Third Party Inspection & Monitoring Agencies -TPIMAs more accountable the Govt must create awareness about them through social media , newspapers and electronic media so that people can approach them.

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow.

He is also Anant Fellow for Climate Action , Anant National University Ahmedabad