BHUBANESWAR: The government on Tuesday claimed to have provided drinking water facility to 84 per cent of the households in urban areas of the State.Official sources said nearly 16 per cent of the 4.5 crore population of Odisha live in urban areas out of which 40 per cent did not have drinking water facility. Earlier, three lakh houses in the State did not have drinking water facility.
The situation has now improved and drinking water is now available for 10 lakh houses.Improvement in the situation was discussed at the transformation initiative meeting of the Housing and Urban Development department attended by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.Principal Secretary of the department G Mathivathanan, said besides, 1.75 lakh families have been given land rights under the Jaga Mission and 585 slums converted to model colonies.