BHUBANESWAR: With only 25 per cent of the rural habitation covered under pipe water supply scheme, the State Government has a massive task at hand to provide safe drinking water to a majority of the rural population through pipe lines by 2020.The State Government approved 971 pipe water supply (PWS) projects on Friday under BASUDHA (Buxi Jagabandhu Assured Water Supply to Habitations) for execution in the current financial year. Of the projects sanctioned, 260 projects will be implemented in gram panchayat headquarters while the remaining 711 will be set up in villages having sustainable water sources.
Even as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik promised to cover all the gram panchayats under pipe water supply scheme by the end of 2017-18, sources in the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department said it would not be possible as several panchayat headquarters do not have sustainable water sources. All the sanctioned projects will be implemented under State plan as the Centre has stopped funding under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP).
The department has asked the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) division to submit detailed project reports (DPRs) by August 25. It has been decided to invite tenders for all the projects by August 31 and the tender process will be completed by October 5, the sources said. The Government has also sanctioned 41 PWS projects for villages covered under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).
Of the total 1.56 lakh villages in the State, 1.17 lakh don’t have piped water supply. Piped water projects for the uncovered villages will be undertaken in phases depending on Government grants, said a senior RWSS officer.
The State Government has sanctioned Rs750 crore under BASUDHA which was launched this year as a tribute to Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar Mohapatra in the bicentenary year of Paika Bidroha.
The scheme has two components, Buxi Jagabandhu Saharanchal Paneeya Jala Jogana Karyakram and Buxi Jagabandhu Gramya Paneeya Jala Jogana Karyakram for which Rs 315 crore and Rs 750 crore have been provided respectively in the budget. The State Government will take a loan from Nabard under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) to part finance the project. Though flow of funds under NRDWP has been squeezed, the State Government is expecting an assistance of about Rs 250 crore under the Central scheme in the current fiscal.