Odisha slips further in composite water management index   

Bhubaneswar: The rank of Odisha in water resources management has further slipped during the financial year 2017-18.

As per a report of Niti Aayog, Odisha has slumped from Rank-9 in financial year 2015-16 to Rank-14 in 2017-18 in composite water management index (CWMI). The state ranked 13 in financial year 2016-17.

The report said five states, including Odisha, reported a decline in their water management performances during the last three years  The five states include 4 non-Himalayan and a northeastern and Himalayan state. Odisha reported the largest decline of 7.27 points followed by Tripura which reported a decline of 4.27 points.

While 80% of the states (19 out of 24) have shown improvement in their water management scores over the last three years, Haryana reported the maximum progress driven in large part by high scores on four themes-restoration of water bodies, watershed development, on-farm water use, and policy and governance during the period, the report added.

The report further mentioned that Odisha is among the few others states like Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Bihar that have reported that there are no villages that are being provided with 24*7 piped water supply.