Palghar gram sevaks go on mass leave to oppose villagers’ ‘audit’ of Jal Jeevan Mission works

More than 370 gram sevaks in Palghar district, Maharashtra have gone on indefinite leave to protest against an audit of works under the Jal Jeevan Mission. They claim they are unfairly implicated and play no role in planning the schemes criticized by villagers. Engineers and government officials have also been involved in the dispute.

More than 370 'gram sevaks' (village workers) proceeded on indefinite leave from Saturday to oppose an "audit" being carried out by villagers of works under the 'Jal Jeevan Mission' in Maharashtra's Palghar district.

The protesting gram sevaks from Palghar taluka claimed they are being unfairly implicated since they play no role in the planning and execution of the schemes criticized by the villagers.

Suchit Gharat, president of the Gramsevak Sanghatana in Palghar, said they have apprised the Zilla Parishad Chief Executive Officer (CEO) about their decision.

He claimed that gram sevaks are being made the scapegoats in this matter.

Jal Jeevan Mission is a central programme envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual tap connections to all households in rural India.

Earlier, 16 engineers from the area had threatened to go on mass leave to protest against the "audit", aimed at highlighting the ''deficiencies'' in the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission. Led by an NGO, villagers in the taluka have been going around and trying to find errors in the works over the past many days. Meanwhile, the assistant returning officer of Palghar Lok Sabha constituency has directed action against those government staffers violating the model code of conduct, an official said.

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