BHUBANESWAR: With the summer approaching, State Government on Saturday directed Urban Development department to complete at least 400 drinking water projects in different urban local bodies by March-end.Of the 910 projects sanctioned by the Government, 268 projects have been completed while the remaining 642 projects are in different stages of implementation.Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, who reviewed the drinking water supply situation in all the 113 urban local bodies (ULBs), asked the department to expedite construction of new water supply projects and complete as much as possible before the ensuing summer.
While setting a target to complete 405 projects by March and another 33 by May, the Chief Secretary asked the department to ensure commissioning of 546 more projects by end of the next financial year. He further directed the department to complete the Bhubaneswar bulk water supply project covering Jatni, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), NISER, Infocity-II and adjoining areas under PPP mode within this month.
“The State Government has sanctioned 910 drinking water projects for different ULBs at an estimated cost of `3013 crore. A majority of 752 projects have been taken up under State Plan while 130 projects under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), 8 under Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), 18 under District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and two projects under public private partnership (PPP),” said Special Secretary PK Jha after the meeting.
The department was further directed to ensure 100 per cent household connection in all the wards coming within the new project areas. It was decided to organise wide awareness campaigns and water melas for motivating people to avail household connection. The ULBs have been asked to take up special drive for water connection, said Secretary in the department G Mathi Vathanan.
The meeting decided to involve women self-help groups (SHGs), Mahila Arogya Samitis ( MAS) and Ward kalyan Samitis ( WKS) as water monitors for door-to-door campaign and hand-holding support to the people for taking water connection. The urban poor will not be required to pay any upfront connection charges. They will be provided the facility to pay the connection charges in easy installments.Households taking connection during the campaign period will also be benefited financially as they will not be required to cut the roads and repair that or pay the repair cost as the fine, Jha said.
