BHUBANESWAR: As summer picks up pace, members cutting across party lines in the Assembly on Tuesday expressed concern over lack of safe drinking water in several rural pockets of the state.
The issue cropped up during the question hour when Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water minister Rabi Narayan Naik was replying to Manoranjan Dyan Samantara (BJP).
Samantara said while the previous BJD government had not taken any step to provide safe drinking water to residents of three panchayats in his constituency Chikiti, the new government too has not come up with any permanent solution to the problem.
“People of these panchayats are still being provided drinking water through tankers,” he said, stressing that a permanent arrangement was necessary. “There is a proposal for setting up a mega drinking water project in the constituency, but work is yet to start,” Samantara added.
Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik alleged that people of Dasarathpur block in Jajpur district were suffering from various diseases due to consumption of contaminated water. She demanded that the minister inform the House about the steps being taken by the government to provide safe drinking water to the people of the block and other areas of her constituency.
Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Ramachandra Kadam also criticised the government for its failure to provide safe drinking water to rural areas of the state. He questioned the government as to when the mega drinking water projects will be completed and all households get safe water.
Naik responded by saying that while the previous government had dug 26,000 tube wells during its 24-year tenure, the BJP government has dug the same number of tube wells in a year.
“The government has provided tap water connection to over 68 lakh households, ensuring around 77 per cent coverage. To ensure safe and adequate drinking water supply to all rural households, the government has taken up a total of 207 mega drinking water supply projects in the state. Around 26 projects have been completed and the remaining ones will be wrapped up by March, 2027,” he said.
Stating that the government is aware of reports of contaminated water in Dasarathpur block, the minister said mega drinking water projects in the area will be completed by June, as 96 pc of the work is already over.