To ensure piped water supply to every family in urban areas, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched a ‘Jala Sathi’ programme here on Wednesday.
Initially, the programme would be implemented in eight wards of Bhubaneswar before being extend to the entire city and other urban areas.
The Jala Sathis would visit door to door to collect monthly water bills and examine samples of water being supplied to people. Also, they will act as facilitators for people to provide them piped water connections.
As many as 5,000 Jala Sathis would be recruited and 70 lakh people in urban areas would benefitted under the programme. The WATCO and the women self help groups’ association has signed an agreement in connection with this recently. “Women participation in managing supply of drinking water is quite significant. As ‘Jala Sathis’, women are expected to win the confidence of people and act as a bridge between people and the State Government,” he added.