"Because of Bhajanlal Sharma, Jal Jeevan scam came to light," says Rajasthan Minister Kanhaiya Lal Choudhary

Rajasthan Minister in the Ground Water Department, Kanhaiya Lal Choudhary, on CBI enquiry on 'Jal Jeevan Mission' in the state, criticised Congress party for the scam in the mission and thanked Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma for making revealing the scams

Rajasthan Minister Kanhaiya Lal Choudhary has criticised Congress party for the alleged scam in the Jal Jeevan mission in the State, which is being probed by the CBI, and thanked Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma for bringing the irregulaties to light. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Wednesday registered an FIR in connection with the alleged Jal Jeevan Mission scheme scam in Rajasthan in which contractors used fake completion certificates to bag tenders from the state's Public Health Engineering Department.

Choudhary, the Ground Water Department minister in the State, told ANI: "Several scams were done under the past government (Congress) in the last five years, I thank Bhajanlal Sharma that because of him all these came to the front." Choudhary also alleged that the earlier government had not allowed CBI to enter the state, and added, "But we wrote a letter and they took action in the state... In the future, if any scam takes place, action will be taken... These people did scam in water missions (Jal Jeevan Mission')."

The minister said, "Rajasthan should have got the biggest achievement in this mission. The Water Minister (Union Minister of Jal Shakti) Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tried to give the maximum budget to the state but the previous government didn't utilise it..." Slamming the previous Congress government in the State, Choudhary said, "Because of the previous government, we are at the last position in Jal Jeevan Mission. We had to complete Jal Jeevan Mission by March 2024 and till now, we have only completed 45 per cent..."

The minister also assured that the government will try to maintain transparency in the future. "In the coming time, we will try to complete the mission with full transparency," Choudhary said. Two months ago, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested a man named Piyush Jain in connection with its money laundering investigation linked to alleged irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Rajasthan.

The ED initiated its investigation following an FIR registered by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) where it was charged that Padamchand Jain (proprietor of Shree Shyam Tubewell Company), Mahesh Mittal (proprietor of Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company), Piyush Jain and others were "involved in giving bribes to public servants to obtain illegal protection, tenders, getting bills sanctioned and covering up irregularities for work executed by them in respect of various tenders received by them from the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED)". Jal Jeevan Mission by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry of Jalshakti aims to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. (ANI)

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