Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi chaired an important meeting on Tuesday and reviewed the progress of rural drinking water supply programmes under the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department.
Underlining the need for universal access, the Chief Minister directed officials to ensure that piped water is available in every village in the state by March 2027.
The ambitious initiative, operating in mission mode, aims to provide safe drinking water to all rural areas without exception. Special focus will be placed on tribal-dominated regions to address any disparities. “No revenue village should be left out of the drinking water supply,” said Majhi.
As per details shared during the meeting, Odisha currently has 46,531 villages, of which 21,721 already have piped water facilities. Ongoing projects include solar-powered systems and mega drinking water schemes.
Officials said the state government has allocated Rs 54,000 crore for the rural piped water program, with Rs 32,128 crore coming from the Jal Jeevan Mission and the remaining Rs 21,109 crore funded by the state exchequer.
Significant progress has been made in recent years. Between 2017 and June 12, 2024, three mega drinking water projects were completed. Since June 2024, an additional 23 mega projects have been finished. In just the past 20 months, the state has implemented 2,951 single village projects, 2,702 solar-powered drinking water projects, and installed 26,137 tube wells.
The meeting was attended by Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Rabi Narayan Naik, Chief Secretary Anu Garg, Development Commissioner Deoranjan Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary to CM Saswata Mishra, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department Girish S.N., and Director of Drinking Water and Sanitation Vineet Bhardwaj.
