Chandigarh: Punjab has been accused of misreporting 100% household water coverage in a scathing audit that reveals lakhs of families are actually sourcing their own water while the state’s underground reserves disappear at the highest rate in India.The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, tabled in the legislative assembly on Monday, found that the state govt’s claim of universal tap access under the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ (JJM) was inflated artificially by 11.2 lakh households. These residents, according to the audit, have been forced to arrange their own water supplies despite official figures categorising them as “covered”.The report paints a dire picture of environmental mismanagement, noting that 78% of the state is now “over-exploited” for groundwater, even as authorities continue to prioritise unsustainable bore-well schemes over surface water alternatives.Poisoned Reality Of ‘Clean’ WaterThe audit highlights that Punjab’s groundwater extraction is not only the highest in the country but significantly exceeds that of its neighbours. Of the state’s 23 districts, only two remain classified as “safe.”More alarming is the quality of the water that remains. From arsenic in Amritsar to uranium in Moga, the national audit has exposed a hazardous cocktail lurking in the state’s taps, identifying hazardous levels of contamination across multiple regions. In Ferozepur alone, 576 villages reported “hazardous” cocktails of arsenic, uranium, fluoride, and nitrate.Toxic clusters of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, and Tarn Taran recorded the highest arsenic levels, while Fazilka and Moga led in uranium contamination. In they year 2022-23, more than 60% of water samples took more than a month to process, a delay the CAG says prevented “timely intervention” to protect public health.Scrubbed Surveys, Funding FreezesThe CAG questioned the state’s decision to cancel a mandatory re-verification of its water data in July 2023. The audit suggests the survey was scrapped because the govt had already declared “full coverage,” despite the baseline data being fundamentally flawed. The state govt argued in May 2025 that data was verified on a project basis, but the CAG dismissed this, noting it failed to fix the underlying inaccuracies.Funding Freeze Leaves ‘Dial 112′ on HoldThe audit’s criticism extended beyond water, revealing that the national ‘Dial 112′ emergency system remains only partially functional in Punjab nearly a decade after guidelines were issued. Investigators found the project was crippled by a “total freeze” in state funding between 2018 and 2022. Because the Punjab govt failed to release any money to the police for the initiative, essential fire, health, and women’s helplines remain unintegrated into a single emergency number. The delay was exacerbated by central govt funds that arrived more than five years late, leaving the state’s emergency response infrastructure in a state of fractured obsolescence.MSID:: 129613915 413 |
