Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has directed rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) divisions to ensure availability of drinking water ahead of summer season.
Sushil Kumar Lohani, principal secretary, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department took stock of the ground situation at a review meeting on preparedness of all 35 RWSS divisions. It was revealed at the meeting that the government has issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) on preparedness, mitigation and maintenance of hand pump tube wells and rural piped water supply projects.
The districts were directed to follow the following instructions for ensuring availability of drinking water in each and every habitation of the state:
- 100% checking of tube wells and PWSs to be taken up on priority as a part of preventive maintenance.
- The routine preventive maintenance should be done on a mission mode and it should be ensured that the blocks procure adequate spare parts, paints, riser pipes etc on the recommendation of JE, RWSS.
- Water supply with focus on provision of tap water supply to primary schools, Anganwadi centers, rural haats are ensured.
- Regular review and monitoring of the drinking water situation to be done at weekly meeting at block level on each Saturday.
It was revealed at the meeting that the state has already covered 66% rural households with tap water connection and 9,671 villages with 100% tap connection. The government has proposed 207 mega piped water supply projects worth Rs 35,920 crore. Out of these, 2 are under tendering, 189 under implementation and 16 have been completed.
The department has also taken up 14,256 single village projects worth Rs 18,000 crore with an aim to provide functional household tap connection.
Director, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Engineer–in-Chief, RWSS, Chief Engineers and Additional Chief Engineers attended the meeting.
