Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday dedicated 100 urban drinking water supply projects to the State through online at the State Secretariat on Wednesday.
“These projects have come up at a total cost of `63 crore and will benefit 27 lakh people in 41 urban local bodies (UlBs), including five municipal corporations, in 20 districts of our State,” Patnaik said on the occasion.
The cities included Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Nimapada, Konark, Brahmapur, Chhatrapur, Rajgangpur, Nayagarh, Jeypore, Rayagada, Angul, Patnagarh and Rourkela.
The Chief Minister said his Government is working to provide 135 litres of water per person per day and connect piped water supply system to all urban households, including those in the slum areas.
He said, due to simplification of drinking water supply connection procedures, additional 68,000 households comprising over three lakh poor people have been benefitted.
He said the state government will provide free domestic water supply connections to all urban poor and economically weaker households by waiving the upfront connection fee of `500. The Housing and Urban Development Department has identified 422 water scarcity areas in 185 wards of 24 urban local bodies facing shortage of water during summer.
local MlAs would formally launch the urban drinking water supply projects in their respective areas in the next two days. The Chief Minister directed the concerned authorities to ensure that all the 100 new projects start functioning in the next two days and submit a report in this regard within seven days.