Jal Jeevan Mission complaint: how to report a tap or water problem

Your tap has gone dry. Water comes once a week instead of daily. A pipe has burst in the lane. The water smells. Or your home was simply left out. These are all real Jal Jeevan Mission problems, and government routes exist to get them fixed.

The key fact to remember is that drinking water is a State subject. The Centre funds and monitors the mission, but States plan, build, run and maintain schemes, and after handover the village Pani Samiti runs the system day to day. So most complaints are solved fastest locally, and the national route exists mainly to push a stuck complaint back to the State. The “Start with the right level” table names the first contact for each problem.

Start with the right level

Problems the Pani Samiti can fix

Under JJM 2.0, the Gram Panchayat and its Village Water and Sanitation Committee are responsible for day-to-day operation and maintenance of the village scheme, including infrastructure upkeep, water quality monitoring, records and grievance redressal. The guidelines specifically give the VWSC the job of recording, tracking and helping to resolve consumer complaints at local level.

Many villages have a Nal Jal Mitra, a trained local technician engaged by the VWSC, who can open valves, fix small leaks, look after pumps and report bigger faults to the District Technical Unit. So for most everyday problems, the quickest route is a direct word with the Pani Samiti or Nal Jal Mitra, followed by a written note if it is not fixed.

You can also raise problems in the Gram Sabha. Under JJM 2.0 the Gram Panchayat facilitates an annual functionality check, Jal Seva Aankalan, and presents the findings village by village in the Gram Sabha for public discussion and corrective action.

District and State water department

If the village level cannot fix it, go to your State’s rural water supply or Public Health Engineering (PHE) department, starting with the office of the Junior Engineer, Assistant Engineer or Executive Engineer that covers your block or district. In each district the District Water and Sanitation Mission, headed by the District Collector, oversees the mission, and the Executive Engineer of the water department is its member-secretary.

Several States run their own Jal Jeevan Mission helplines, complaint portals or apps. Numbers and portals differ from State to State and change from time to time, so use the contact listed on your State water department’s official website, or the State toll-free number shown in the Citizen Corner. Be careful with numbers found on non-government websites or social media.

The Citizen Corner for water quality

The Citizen Corner on the JJM Dashboard shows village-level water quality results, helps you find the nearest testing lab and its rates, and lets you raise a water quality concern through an online complaint form or your State’s toll-free number. If water quality in your village is outside limits, the complaint is brought to the attention of the district’s water supply department. Visit the Citizen Corner.

CPGRAMS: the central grievance portal

If you have tried locally and the problem is still not fixed, you can lodge a grievance on the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) at pgportal.gov.in. Choose the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

The Government told Parliament in March 2025 that complaints received at Centre level through CPGRAMS, the Department’s website and physical channels are transferred to the water supply department of the State concerned for timely redressal. In other words, CPGRAMS will not send an engineer from Delhi, but it creates a tracked record and pushes the State to respond. (PIB, 17 March 2025)

CPGRAMS asks you to register and gives you a registration number to track your grievance. Use only the official site at pgportal.gov.in.

National Jal Jeevan Mission contact

For policy questions, or to report something serious that is not being addressed, the National Jal Jeevan Mission publishes this contact:

Source: jaljeevanmission.gov.in (contact footer).

This is an office line, not a 24-hour helpline for individual leaks or supply cuts. Those are handled by your State.

What to include in a complaint

A clear complaint is resolved faster. Include:

• Where: State, district, block, Gram Panchayat, village or hamlet, and ward or landmark.
• What: no water, irregular supply, low pressure, leak, broken pipe, dirty water, smell, home not connected, damaged road after pipe work.
• Since when: the date the problem started, and how often it happens.
• Who you told: dates you informed the Pani Samiti or department, and any complaint number.
• Evidence: a photo of the leak or dry tap, or a water test report if you have one.
• How to reach you: give a contact number only on the official portal or to the department.

Never share an OTP, bank PIN or card details to register a water complaint.

Water quality complaints

If you suspect contaminated water:

1. Stop drinking it if it looks, smells or tastes wrong, and use a safe alternative.
2. Ask the trained women in your village to test it with a Field Test Kit, or check the Citizen Corner for recent results.
3. A bad kit result must be confirmed in a lab. States are required to act on confirmed contamination, for example by disinfecting, fixing the source, providing an alternative safe source or installing treatment.
4. If nothing happens, complain through the Citizen Corner route, the State department, then CPGRAMS.

See Water quality testing for limits and labs.

Keep a simple record

Complaints move faster when there is a paper trail. Keep a small note of:

If you escalate, attach or quote this record so the officer does not have to start from scratch.

A short written complaint might read: “Our tap in Ward 4, near the school, has had no water since 3 November. We told the Pani Samiti on 5 November. Please restore supply.” Add your village, Panchayat, block and district at the top.

Avoid fake helplines

Fraudsters copy the names of popular schemes. Be careful if someone:

• asks for money to “register” a complaint or a new connection;
• asks for an OTP, UPI PIN or bank details;
• sends a link to a site that is not a government (.gov.in or .nic.in) address;
• claims to be from “Jal Jeevan Mission head office” and offers a tap, job or certificate for a fee.

Registering a grievance on CPGRAMS and the State portals is free.

For problems getting a new connection, see How to get a tap connection. For the Pani Samiti’s duties, see Pani Samiti (VWSC). For what a working tap should provide, see FHTC.

FAQ