Odisha Govt To Set Up Centre Of Excellence In Bhubaneswar To Improve Water Supply Services

Bhubaneswar: In the first of its kind initiative, the Odisha government has decided to set up a centre of excellence, ‘Odisha Water Academy’ in the city.

The academy will function as a pioneering training and capacity building institution in the field of water and wastewater service provision.  Its main objective is to enhance the quality and services in customer satisfaction and better health and environment outcome.

Giving the details about the academy, Minister for Housing & Urban Development, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Pratap Jena said it will help meet the state government’s agenda of supplying safe drinking water and wastewater service to each urban household. The academy will be beneficial to the personnel working under the Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO), Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO), Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board (OWSSB) and other related organisations.

The training and capacity building to be undertaken by the academy will be for both managers and workers and will include both at induction and in-house stages. It will enable them to remain up-to-date with state-of-the-art, innovative, hi-tech technologies and advanced management skills to run the water and wastewater business more efficiently.

The Academy would be registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and would work under the administrative control of WATCO.

It would have a governing body headed by the Principal Secretary, Housing &Urban Development Department-cum-Chairman, WATCO.