Bhubaneswar, March 15: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Monday announced that Odisha State Urban Water Supply Policy-2013 will help provide safe drinking water to all households across the State.
Speaking at a workshop “Drinking Water for All by 2020”, he said every person will have access to water through direct pipe connection and the urban poor shall receive all the facilities available to other residents at an affordable cost.
The State Public Health Engineering Organisation is supplying more than 900 million litres of drinking water per day in the urban areas benefiting about 65 lakh people, he added.
“Similarly we are also providing 580 MLD of water through more than 10 thousand pipe water supply projects to villages,” Patnaik said.
Exuding confidence that the ambitious plan of State government at a cost of Rs 4380 crore for providing at least 70 litres of water per capita per day and subsequently increase it to 135 litres per capita per day in a span of 12 years, he said the objective is to provide round the clock clean, safe drinking water to all citizens.
Special emphasis has been laid on replacement of 500 kilometres of out- lived pipe lines at a cost of Rs. 152 Crore while 600 de-fluoridation plants are constructed for providing portable drinking water in Nuapada district, he said.
One mega water supply project with an estimated cost of Rs 750 crore has been planned in that district, Patnaik added.
Mega water supply projects are also planned to providing drinking water to seven districts namely Balasore, Bhadrak, Keonjhar, Puri, Balangir, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur at an estimated cost of more than Rs.550 crore, he added.
