‎‎Srinagar, Sept 24 (KNS) : Unpaid claims for work already executed under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Jammu and Kashmir have reached nearly ?1,346.60 crore, with contractors and executing agencies awaiting payment amid funding constraints, the government has informed the Legislative Assembly.
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‎The figure was disclosed by the Jal Shakti Department in response to a question by MLA Bashir Ahmad Shah Veeri on the status of unpaid work-done claims under JJM and the steps being taken to clear the pending liabilities.
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‎According to the government, unpaid claims amount to approximately ?1,350 crore across Jammu and Kashmir. The district-wise data shows claims of ?452.25 crore in Kashmir province and ?894.35 crore in Jammu province.
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‎Among Kashmir districts, Anantnag has the highest unpaid claims at ?101.88 crore, followed by Budgam at ?70.01 crore, Shopian at ?60.48 crore, Kulgam at ?47.80 crore and Baramulla at ?78.75 crore.
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‎In Jammu province, Rajouri has the highest claims at ?156.48 crore, followed by Jammu at ?123.74 crore, Kathua at ?119.65 crore and Udhampur at ?100.88 crore.
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‎The department attributed the accumulation of liabilities primarily to a slowdown in the release of funds during the latter part of the JJM implementation period.
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‎According to the government, the UT had originally targeted completion of most JJM schemes by March 2025. During the preceding two years, executing agencies continued work in anticipation of fund releases, with expenditure of around ?6,600 crore incurred.
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‎“However, in view of no substantial release of funds towards the later part of the year, the works on ground slowed down and came to a halt by March, 2025,” the department said.
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‎It said this resulted in work-done claims that could not be paid because of limited fund releases during 2024-25 and no funds during 2025-26.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
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‎The government said the Centre's extension of JJM as JJM 2.0 up to December 2028 has changed the funding arrangement. Under the new framework, Single Village Schemes are to be funded by the Centre and the UT in a 90:10 ratio, while Multi Village Schemes are to be funded through reimbursement, with the UT required to initially incur expenditure from its own resources.
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‎The department said the Centre has conveyed an allocation of ?905.74 crore for the current year, including ?461.61 crore for Single Village Schemes and ?384.87 crore for Multi Village Schemes.
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‎A central allocation of ?128.88 crore has also been received through the SNA-SPARSH mechanism and released to field divisions, the government said. Since the funds received were lower than the work-done claims, the amount was released proportionately among schemes with pending liabilities.
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‎For retrofitting schemes, the department said 1,426 schemes require a balance cost of around ?2,354 crore. It has sought additional funding to complete these schemes during the current financial year.
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‎The department said it had requested the Finance Department to augment the UT Capex and had also suggested an additional ?500 crore within the approved Public Health Engineering sector allocation.
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‎On pending payments under MVS, the department said a demand of ?427.63 crore, comprising ?384.87 crore as Central share and ?42.76 crore as UT share, had been submitted to the Finance Department on September 15, 2026. The funds were yet to be released.
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‎The government also said it had not taken any action to impose banking restrictions on contractors as a coercive measure until the pending dues are released.(KNS)