In a bid to bring permanent relief from the drinking water problems to the peripheral villages, the Mahanadi Coalfields limited (MCl) through its CSR policy has taken yet another decision for laying of water pipeline in the Talcher Coalfields in Angul district.
The Mahanadi Coalfields limited (MCl) Board, at its recent meeting held in Bhubaneswar, approved three rural piped water supply schemes for 35 adjoining peripheral villages of Talcher block at a cost of Rs 56.88 crore.
The work would be executed by the Rural Water Supply & Sanitation (RWSS) Department, Angul through a tripartite agreement between the MCl, the district administration and the RWSS.
These schemes are to be implemented in the village Kandhal and its adjacent villages under Talcher block; the villages of Kamarei, Jarda, Badatribada, Badagunduri and adjoining villages under Kaniha block at a cost of Rs 40.36 crore; and the villages of Chandrabil, Dhobalpal, , Ranjagol under Kaniha block at a cost of Rs 1.34 crore.
This is in addition to the Rs 22.23-crore scheme for 19 villages at Talcher which is at a completion stage.
With the sanction of the current scheme, almost all the peripheral villages would have permanent piped water supply.
However, till completion of the permanent water supply schemes, the MCl would continue to provide water this summer through tankers at a cost of Rs 5.89 crore to the peripheral villages.
The MCl had earlier got the approval of the State Government for construction of permanent water weir across rivers Ib and Brahmani. This would replace the temporary sand bandh being constructed by the MCl before the onset of summer for the people of Jharsuguda district.
The company has also constructed check dams on river Basundhara for peripheral villages of the Basundhara area of Sundargarh district besides sanctioning a water supply scheme for Burla town in Sambalpur district at a cost of Rs 8 crore, apart from digging ponds and wells in its coalfields.