BERHAMPUR: In a major relief to residents of around 287 villages under Chikiti, Digapahandi and Patrapur blocks of Ganjam district, the areas will get piped water supply at their doorstep within two years. Sources said the three blocks had been dealing with acute water scarcity since the last decade at a time when the groundwater level in the areas had also depleted. Following frequent appeals by Chikiti MLA and Housing and Urban Development Minister Usha Devi, the state government approved the mega water supply project recently.
As per information, the project has been approved at a cost of Rs 222.03 crore and is expected to be completed within two years. It will use water from the Baghalati Medium Irrigation project. The project will facilitate the supply of drinking water to 14 panchayats under Patrapur, 17 under Chikiti and seven panchayats under Digapahandi block. Around 2.56 lakh people residing in 287 villages under the said panchayats would be benefitted from the project.
Coastal villages including Ekingi, Surala, Sunapur, Katuru and Sumandi in Chikiti block will be particularly benefitted as they had been receiving mostly salty water till now. As a result, locals of these villages had to travel around 3 km to collect drinking water from Gobindapur.
Additional chief engineer of the Irrigation Department Sanjib Kumar Dasburma said, “Work for the mega water supply project has begun and our aim is to provide water for drinking and irrigation purposes simultaneously. Besides, construction of water treatment plant and power supply etc has also started. The capacity of Baghalati reservoir is 106 metre with a capacity to store around 100 cubic metre water in summer.”Baghalati water supply project would be first of its kind as it will cover all the villages under Chikiti, Patrapur and Digapahandi blocks, he added.