Out of 15.17 lakh urban households in three municipal corporations, 35 municipalities and 68 NACs in the State, only 3.10 lakh households, accounting for 20.44 per cent of the total, availed water supply connections as per 2011 Census by February 2015. This has been revealed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report laid in the State Assembly recently.
The Odisha State Urban Water Supply Policy (OSUWSP) 2013 had committed to provide adequate quantity of safe drinking water to urban population round the clock at an affordable price and in an equitable, sustainable and eco-friendly manner with verifiable service level benchmark. It also aimed to achieve the desired service level at par with national level benchmark in a phased manner within a 12 year period from 2015 with a proposed outlay of Rs4,380 crore. The policy, inter alia, targeted to achieve 100 per cent water quality by 2016-17, minimum supply of 70 lped water in all cities by 2019, 135 lped by 2023, 70 per cent metering by 2019 and 100 per cent by 2023. Non-reveneu water was to be reduced from 50 to 15 per cent by 2027.
But specific action plan such as preparation of long-term plan, detailed guidelines, baseline survey, preparation of Detailed Project Reports and water supply master plans had not been formulated by May 2015 for transformation of the 2013 policy to concrete action and only a preliminary meeteing was held in January 2014, the CAG Report said.
It said that household survey, required as per the OSUWSP 2013 was not conducted by the PHEO, the executing agency of the policy, in urban areas except in three Municipal Corporations as of March 2015 to assess basic requirements for formulation of long term plans. Similarly, the Housing and Urban Development Department had not prescribed the standard operating procedure for implementation of water supply projects by March 2015, it stated.