Odisha govt targets to complete 20 water supply projects by March 2024

The Odisha government has set a target to complete 20 ongoing mega piped water supply projects by the end of March 2024.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has set a target to complete 20 ongoing mega piped water supply projects by the end of March 2024, an official said.

The government has undertaken 207 mega piped water supply projects worth Rs 35,920 crore. Out of which, 16 mega projects have been completed while two are under tendering process.

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The remaining 189 mega projects are under various stages of implementation in different districts of Odisha. Target has been set to complete at least 20 of these projects by March, 2024, the official said on Thursday.

The state has prepared its plan for a total of 47,274 villages to be covered with functional household tap connections. As per the plan, 31,854 (65 per cent) of the villages are covered with mega piped water supply, while 15,420 (35 per cent) are covered with small and solar. Apart from these, 4,79,664 tubewells are also made available in all the villages.

Till now, 9,671 villages have been saturated with 100 per cent tap water supply connection and 66 per cent of rural households are covered with tap water connection.

The panchayati raj and drinking water department, which is looking after the rural water supply in Odisha, has taken up 14,256 single village projects worth Rs 18,000 crore with an aim to provide functional household tap connection.

While reviewing the pace of progress of coverage of villages with functional household tap connection on Wednesday, panchayati raj department principal secretary Sushil Kumar Lohani, asked officials of rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) divisions to expedite the implementation in the field.

A detailed discussion was made on all the aspects of implementation and instructions were issued to resolve all issues on time and focus on timely completion of the projects, the official said.

There are 77 water testing labs in the state. Water samples from 2.28 lakh sources and delivery points are tested in laboratories across the state every year.

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation has been done for 23 laboratories, while 3 other labs have applied for the certification and another 7 labs are in the pipeline for submission. Efforts are being undertaken to get NABL accreditation for all district laboratories during the current financial year of 2023-24.

During the meeting, an SOP was issued on preparedness, mitigation and maintenance of hand pump tube wells and rural piped water supply projects before approaching summer, 2024. All the district officials were asked to ensure the availability of drinking water in each and every habitation of the state without fail.