Mahoba, January 30: The Uttar Pradesh’s Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh visited Mahoba district on Friday. As he left his convoy after attending a program at a private college in the district headquarters, BJP MLA from Charkhari, Braj Bhushan Rajput, stopped him and raised concerns about the negligence and corruption in the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scheme.
A large number of village heads and villagers also gathered, shouting slogans, but police arrived and brought the situation under control.
The MLA Braj Bhushan Rajput informed Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh about the problems faced by the Jal Jeevan Mission across the district, including the dilapidated roads and broken taps that were not supplying water to villages. After listening to the problems, the minister announced that he would leave his program and visit all the villages and immediately suspend the responsible officials.
He stated that he would visit all the villages, whether they were 40 or 50, and if he found problems with dug-up roads or lack of water, he would suspend the responsible officials. He also discussed the problems with the village heads present at the scene. He also discussed the problems with the village heads at the Collectorate, where the heads questioned the quality of previous work on the dug-up roads in their villages and reported the completion of the repairs immediately.
Seeing MLA Braj Bhushan Rajput and Water Power Minister Swatantra Dev Singh talking, supporters of both sides began arguing and shouting slogans. Amidst the debate, Water Power Minister Swatantra Dev Singh took Charkhari MLA Braj Bhushan Rajput into his car and promised to resolve the water and road problems in the village.
Administrative and police officials were stunned by the stoppage of Cabinet Minister Swatantra Dev Singh’s convoy. They immediately controlled the crowd, increased their security, and managed to get the cabinet minister’s convoy off. Charkhari MLA Brajbhushan Rajput was also with him.
The Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Namami Gange Moinul Islam stated that a total of 1,131 km of roads were damaged in Mahoba district under the Jal Jeevan Mission, and 1,118 km of these have been reconstructed. Similarly, 713 km of roads were damaged in the Charkhari area, and 706 km of these have been reconstructed. Village heads have informed the Collectorate that the road patchwork in their villages is not up to the mark, so work is being done there as well. Physical verification of the work is also being conducted.