05 April,2024 07:45 PM IST | Palghar | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Pic/File
Atleast sixteen engineers of Palghar Zilla Parishad in Maharashtra have threatened to go on mass leave in protest against an "audit" being carried out by agitating villagers in Palghar of water works under the Jal Jeevan Mission, an official said on Friday, reported the PTI.
According to the PTI, these engineers apprised the Zilla Parishad's executive engineer of their decision on Thursday through a letter, he added.
The villagers over the past several days have been reportedly going around the area and trying to find errors in the work. This has been allegedly resulting in spats with engineers, leading to some staffers being kept in captivity for some time, the official said, as per the PTI.
"In the letter, engineers have said the audit agitation was affecting their health and morale. Till a decision is taken at the highest level, we have no option but to go on mass leave," the official said, the news agency reported on Friday.
Meanwhile, the assistant returning officer of Palghar Lok Sabha constituency directed block development officers and gram panchayat functionaries to examine whether the ongoing agitation violated the model code of conduct.
The Jal Jeevan Mission, a campaign under 'Har Ghar Jal' scheme of the central government was announced in 2019. The campaign aims to ensure piped water supply to every rural home by 2024.
The Jal Jeevan Mission is a decentralized, demand-driven community-managed water supply programme that seeks to empower the local village community, which means the local village community is to play a central role in the planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of their own in-village water supply system.
A team of National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) has been inspecting the work under the scheme and had earlier visited several parts of Maharashtra. The team had also visited Palghar apart from districts including Raigad, Sindhudurg and Pune.
The visiting team had then planned to visit atleast 3-5 villages daily to see the implementation on ground and sensitise local officers for speedy implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission to ensure âHar Ghar Jal' by 2024. During their visit, the team had interacted with district officials, members of Gram Panchayat, etc.
(with PTI inputs)
