30,000 Villagers in Odisha to Now Get Safe Drinking Water, Through New Pipelines

Being a state that has perennial water and irrigation crises, the Odisha government is flagging off various projects and schemes that will help resolve these issues in both urban and rural regions.

Covering 11 water pinched villages in Rengali and Dhankauda blocks of Sambhalpur district, the first phase of Integrated Rural Piped Water Supply (IRPWS) project will find implementation within a month.

According to BP Routray, who is the Executive Engineer of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS), Sambalpur, all the work pertaining to the civil, mechanical and electrical aspects of the project along with the distribution system have already been accomplished.

The project entails a water treatment plant with five MLD (Millions of Litres per Day) capacity and overhead tanks of 2-lakh-litre and 6.5-lakh-litre capacities installed at Pradhanpali and Kilasama Hillock along State Highway (SH) 10. Hirakud Dam Reservoir will act the water source for the project, reports New Indian Express

While the tank at Pradhanpali will route water to seven Dhankauda block villages of Pitapali, Gaudapali, Bad Pradhanpali, Gunchhamal, Pradhanpali, Jharghati and Kumbharakata, the tank at Kilasama Hillock will channel it to four Rengali block villages of Kilasama in Dhankauda besides Rengali, Ganesh nagar and Ramchandra nagar.

Once the phase I operations begin, close to 30,000 villagers will be able to access safe drinking water that can be collected in the villages through public stand posts besides household connections.

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At present, the authorities are trial-testing the project. The IRPWS project has been funded by three industrial corporations namely Vedanta Limited, Aditya Aluminium and Bhusan Power and Steel Limited with an estimated cost of ₹ 12.42 crores.

The state government has also given the nod to a new scheme that will help boost the irrigation potential for 55,000 hectares through the revival and expansion of existing canal systems. The project was approved by a cabinet headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that was constituted to discuss various state welfare pertaining projects.

The decision was announced by Pratap Jena, who is the state minister for Health, Family Welfare and Law on Wednesday.

The irrigation programme will be launched in memory of late Nabakrushna Choudhury, the legendary politician and activist from Odisha who is known for his progressive reforms that he had brought forth during his chief ministerial stint.

A budget of ₹ 635 crores has been estimated for the project, that the authorities intend to complete within three years.

Under the scheme, around 14 large, medium and 284 small irrigation projects, which span up to 46,296 hectares, will have their existing canal systems renovated to increase the irrigation potential. Alongside, the authorities also intend to achieve additional irrigation potential spanning across 8,719 hectares through the expansion of canal system of six large and medium irrigation projects.

The minister also mentioned that the programme would be financed by the state government through its own coffers.

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