New Delhi, April 1 -- The Centre on Tuesday cleared funds to five states among 12 that have signed fresh agreements to implement a revamped Jal Jeevan Mission, the flagship piped water programme, aimed at curbing irregularities and enhancing verifiable delivery outcomes. With this, the Centre has resumed fresh allocations for the programme, which aims to connect each of India's nearly 194 million rural households with doorstep tap-water connections. The government had paused funding states as it worked on redrawing the programme's framework to enforce stricter checks. A total amount of Rs.1,561.53 crore has been released. Uttar Pradesh has been given Rs.792.93 crore, Chhattisgarh Rs.536.53 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs.154.02 crore, Odisha Rs.65.31 crore and Maharashtra Rs.12.74 crore. "To ensure transparency, accountability and improved service delivery, a system of structured validations has been put in place, which states are required to fulfil prior to the release of funds," drinking water and sanitation secretary Ashok KK Meena said. The funds were released following the fulfilment of mandatory compliance conditions. The Union Cabinet on March 10 had approved Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) 2.0, marking a restructuring and reorientation of the mission from an "infrastructure-centric approach to a service delivery model". As part of this restructuring, the Cabinet had approved a total outlay to Rs.8.69 lakh crore, in which the Centre's share would be Rs.3.59 lakh crore, up from Rs.2.08 lakh crore spent since the programme was rolled out in 2020-19....