Odisha CM for piped water supply in all panchayat Hqs by Dec’18

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today directed Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water department to complete provision of piped drinking water supply in all panchayat headquarters in the State by December 2018.

The Chief Minister issued the directive while conducting a review of the rural drinking water programme at the State Secretariat here today, said an official release.

It was revealed at the meeting that out of 6801 panchayats in the State 5586 panchayat headquarters already have piped drinking water facilities. The remaining 1215 gram panchayats would be provided with piped drinking water facilities by December 2018, the release added.

According to information presented at the meeting out of 48,766 villages having drinking water facilities, 26,185 villages had complete drinking water facilities. All villages having partial drinking water facilities will be provided with complete drinking water facilities by December 2018, the release said.

Moreover, 543 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) have been provided with drinking water facilities, the release added.

The programmes undertaken by the Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) was also reviewed at the meeting.

The OMBADC has undertaken housing, drinking water and other developmental works in eight mineral bearing districts of Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Koraput and Mayurbhanj in the State.

It was revealed at the meeting that it has been targeted to build 29,829 pucca houses in these districts by December 2017. Similarly, a target to construct 196 projects in 691 villages in these districts has been set, the release said.