Key Details
CAG Report No. 5 of 2026 contains a performance audit of Odisha’s Jal Jeevan Mission and selected compliance audits across other departments. It is titled for the period ended March 2024, with some findings using later records.
Audit area | Finding |
|---|---|
Major water projects | Only 2 of 133 projects undertaken under the Jal Jeevan Mission were fully completed by June 2024. |
Tap-connection target | Delivery across water-supply schemes fell 25.25 lakh connections, or 31%, short of the combined 2020–24 target. |
Medicines | Drugs worth ₹167.91 crore expired between April 2019 and January 2025; this included ₹68.90 crore worth received as donations. |
Audit recoveries | Of ₹405.82 crore in recoveries accepted by audited entities during 2023–24, ₹0.39 crore had been recovered by March 2024. |
Water Connections Were Behind Target — and Service Was Hard to Verify
The audit found that Odisha’s Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to provide rural households with safe and regular tap-water supply, faced delays in both connections and major projects. In the five districts examined in detail, four had not prepared the required district action plans. Village water committees were not adequately involved in planning and maintaining supply systems.
The concern extends beyond connection counts. Thirty-four of the state’s 77 water-quality laboratories had neither accreditation nor recognition from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories. In interviews across sampled villages, 298 beneficiaries in 25 villages said water supply was insufficient for daily needs.
The audit also found conflicting connection records: the Jal Jeevan Mission portal reported 26.28 lakh connections, while departmental records showed 25.64 lakh, as of March 2024. Reconciliation matters because unreliable coverage data can obscure where households still need a functioning service. The department accepted the audit’s recommendations and said it would take remedial action.
Roads, Schools and Sports Facilities Show a Similar Delivery Gap
Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Odisha had not connected 2,428 habitations covering 20.71 lakh people by the targeted March 2025 deadline. The audit also attributed ₹48.52 crore in wasteful expenditure across 32 road projects to works awarded without the required land and forest clearances.
Physical inspections raised questions about whether other completed or funded assets could be used as intended. Science laboratories were non-functional in 32 of 54 schools inspected. By November 2024, work had not begun on 24 mini-stadiums, while 43 remained incomplete years after funds were released.
Weak Controls Also Affected Medicines, Land and Recoveries
The expired-drug total included medicines bought by the Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited as well as donated stock. The audit linked the expiry to procurement and inventory-management weaknesses; the full ₹167.91 crore should therefore not be described solely as a loss of state-purchased medicines.
In its land-use audit, CAG identified 12,393.65 acres allotted for industrial or allied purposes between 1981 and 2021 that had not been used for their intended purpose. The small recovery against amounts accepted following audit points to a further problem: identifying an irregularity does not, by itself, secure corrective action or public money.
Policy Relevance
The findings put two accountability tasks before Odisha:
Verify delivery, not just expenditure. Water connections need checks on supply and quality; roads, laboratories and sports facilities need to be usable. Reconciling the two Jal Jeevan Mission connection totals is an immediate part of establishing a reliable baseline.
Close the audit follow-up gap. Departments need to account for unfinished projects, expired stock, unused land and accepted recoveries. For legislative oversight, a time-bound account of action taken would be more useful than reporting expenditure or sanctions alone.
Follow the Full CAG Report Here: Report No. 5 of 2026 on the Government of Odisha