BHUBANESWAR: The Drink from Tap (DfT) Mission in Odisha has become a national model, with the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs issuing a notification for adoption of the model by other states.
Odisha Water Academy has been empanelled as a leading capacity-building institute at the national level. Chief Executive of WATCO has also been included as a member of the national task force.
Evincing interest in the Odisha model of DfT Mission, a 20-member team from Karnataka led by Urban Development Secretary Ajaya Nagbhusan is on a visit to the State to see the efficacy of the programme.
The Karnataka team held discussions with Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development G Mathivathanan and senior officers of the department here on Tuesday. The team visited Puri (where the mission was launched in August 2021) and Bhubaneswar to have field-level exposure and see the activities at ground level.
The scheme has been rolled out for the entire population in Puri municipality. Currently, a population of around 2.5 lakh in Puri is using the water directly from the tap for drinking and cooking without further filtration. The project is being rolled out in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. For this purpose, Bhubaneswar has been divided to 98 zones out of which 24x7 DfT has already started in 10 zones.
Areas covered under the mission in Bhubaneswar include Niladri Vihar, Sahid Nagar, Kalinganagar (K-8 and K3-V), Ishaneswar basti, Salia Sahi basti, Puleswar basti, VSS Nagar, and Satya Vihar near Rasulgarh. Target has been fixed to supply water for around 11 lakh population in the State Capital by the end of December 2023, Swain said.
Similarly, Cuttack city has been divided into 14 zones for DfT, out of which two zones have been completed. Work is also going on for completing the project in Berhampur by August 2023.
The project is simultaneously being implemented in different ULBs of Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur districts. It has been targeted to cover major 17 cities of the State under the Mission by December 2023.