BHUBANESWAR: The State government on Tuesday informed the Assembly that 13,409 villages in Odisha are yet to get piped drinking water. Replying to a written question by Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pradip Kumar Amat said pipe water connections have been provided to 33,884 out of 47,293 villages of the State. The government has targeted to connect all the villages with piped water by the end of 2024.
He said that a saturation plan has also been prepared for Koraput district to provide tap water to all hamlets and slums by the targeted period. Participating in the discussion, BJP MLA Bishnu Sethi said the State government has utterly failed to meet the basic needs of the people.
Though the government has put up sign boards of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ everywhere, the picture in the field is quite different. "Our constituents are constantly probing when their houses will be connected with tap water but we have no answers. Many times we have to say that the government is not listening as we are in the Opposition. Shall the people represented by Opposition members have no right to get tap water, they question," Sethi said.
Referring to the mega drinking water project at Rajakanika in Kendrapara district that it is hanging fire due to opposition from locals, Sethi said this project on completion will meet the drinking water and irrigation need of Chandbali, Dhamra, Tihidi and Basudevpur blocks of Bhadrak districts. He urged the Minister to see that the project is executed soon.