Sitapur's Rs 5.31-Crore Water Tank Collapses; 5th Case In Uttar Pradesh (screengrab-X/INCKerala)
Uttar Pradesh: In yet another embarrassment for the Jal Jeevan Mission, a newly constructed Rs 5.31-crore overhead water tank collapsed in Chunkaw Behema village in Sitapur district on Thursday, just five months after it was commissioned in January 2024. No casualties have been reported in the incident.
The 3,500-litre zincalume tank, meant to supply drinking water to over 845 households across Chunkaw Behema and seven neighbouring villages, crumpled without warning. “The tank folded like a deck of cards,” said Shatrohan Lal, the guard of the facility, describing the collapse that left the 18-kilometre pipeline network dry.
This is the second such incident in Sitapur and the fifth in Uttar Pradesh, prompting sharp scrutiny of the Har Ghar Jal Yojana, a flagship scheme under the Jal Jeevan Mission aimed at providing tap water access in rural areas.
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Although the mission has tested 16,000 tanks, the five failures have raised eyebrows. The incident is part of a troubling pattern:
- Lakhimpur Kheri (April 2024): A Rs 3.5-crore water tank collapsed during its first test. The adjoining solar panel was also destroyed.
- Sitapur (August 2024): Another tank collapsed during its first trial run.
- Mathura (July 2024): A 2.5-litre capacity overhead tank collapsed after light rain in a densely populated area, killing two people and injuring 12.
In response to the Sitapur tank collapse, Additional Chief Secretary Anurag Srivastav, who also heads the Jal Jeevan Mission in Uttar Pradesh, ordered a technical audit of all water tanks in the district. The State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) swung into action, taking disciplinary measures against 12 officials, ranging from junior to assistant engineers.
Breaking: In UP’s Sitapur, an overhead tank built under the Jal Jeevan Mission collapsed. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident. It is being claimed the tank came up at a cost of over ₹5.31 crores. pic.twitter.com/RvUWBPuYXW
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) May 29, 2025
The contractor, NCC Limited, has been blacklisted, as has the third-party inspection agency that approved the construction. A 5 per cent liquidated damages penalty has been imposed on NCC. Departmental inquiries have been initiated against Executive Engineer Rajiv Kumar and others, including Assistant Engineer Sanjeet Yadav and Junior Engineer Saurab Singh Yadav, both of whom have been suspended. The district head of the inspection firm was summarily dismissed.
A three-member high-level committee, comprising engineers from the Rural Water Corporation and the mission, has been tasked with delivering a detailed report within three days.
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Back in October 24, 2024, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had accused the Modi government of “monumental mismanagement”, alleging that the Jal Jeevan Mission has been plagued by underestimated costs, poor implementation, and funding shortfalls.
“In August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Jal Jeevan Mission with much fanfare, promising to deliver tap water to every household by March 2024,” Ramesh said. “Costs were massively underestimated to begin with. Insufficient progress has been made in the last five years. And now we are seeing funding shortfalls in one of the non-biological PM’s flagship schemes,” he added.
Ramesh went a step further, suggesting that the government’s inaction may be “a sinister attempt to exact vengeance on India’s poorest voters” following the BJP’s setback in the June 4 elections.
