Jodhpur: The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a flagship initiative aimed at providing tap water to every rural household in India, is facing scrutiny as ground realities in Begadia village, Osian constituency, reveal a stark contrast to the official records. Despite impressive statistics on the JJM dashboard, the villagers of Begadia are still waiting for water to flow through their taps.Located approximately 65-km from Jodhpur district headquarters, Begadia village, with a population of 1,118 across 12 habitations, is an example of discrepancies in the JMM implementation. As of April 2023, the village had 147 households and by Aug 27, 2025, the JJM dashboard claimed that 142 of these households had been provided with tap connections. On the ground, however, just a handful of homes receive water and that too from an old pipeline laid years ago. During a visit by the TOI, it was observed that blue pipelines lay unconnected at the doorsteps of villagers, symbolising unfulfilled promises. Hup Singh Rathore, a resident of Karamsoto ki Dhani, expressed his disappointment, holding a dry pipe outside his house. “We do not know whether we will ever get water in this pipeline,” he lamented. Karamsoto ki Dhani, also known as Jethmalon ki Dhani and Chouhano ki Dhani, is one of the habitations in Begadia. Despite the dashboard indicating that all six houses in this hamlet have tap water, the reality is quite different. Tej Singh, another resident of the village, filed an RTI application to expose the gaps in govt claims and ground reality. “PHED provided a list of 100 households, claiming these had tap connections. Of these, only 22 were from my village. There were only four houses having connections and that too from the old pipeline,” said Chouhan, adding that this was despite the Executive Engineer and the Assistant Engineer having visited the village on complaints. The discrepancies have raised questions about the accuracy of the JJM dashboard and the effectiveness of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) in executing the project. Mukesh Kumar Manatwal, the PHED XEn from Osian Project Division, claimed ignorance of the situation and requested details to investigate the discrepancies. “I do not have any information about this. If you send me the details, I will check and let you know,” Manatwal stated, citing his recent appointment to the region. Begadia is part of the Panchla Ghewra Cherai package B, with the work order issued on July 13, 2023. As the villagers continue to wait for the necessity, the situation in Begadia highlights the need for greater accountability and transparency in the implementation of govt schemes.
