Even as over 34 lakh households in Odisha have tap water connections in the last 3 years, the State lags behind in penetration of piped water supply nationally. Only 42 percent of households in the State could have tap water connections as against 90 percent in Bihar.
However, the devil lies in the details. When Odisha has over 51,300 villages (as per the 2011 census), only 12 percent or 6.1 k villages have 100 percent functional household tap connection (FHTC), which means real access to tap drinking water in the State is very low to date.
When the village count stands so low, it is then obvious that not a single block in the State has 100 percent FHTC as of date. as a consequence, this State fails to break into the top-15 states in the country.
Districts Tapped
The data available in the JJM dashboard shows that Nuapada tops the district list in the State where over 86 percent of households have a tap water supply. As many as 7 districts in the State have now tap water connections to half of their households. The districts are Bhadrak (68.85 percent), Keonjhar (65.8 pc), Boudh (59.8pc), Dhenkanal (55.6 pc), Deogarh (52.2pc) and Angul (50.28 pc).
The topping of Nuapada assumes significance when the district has the most blocks under the contamination category. For this, the JJM has given priority to the western district, where rural households are dominated by agricultural labourers.
However, water-stressed districts like Sundargarh, Balangir, Mayurbhanj and Malkangiri are still in the parched zone. Only around one-fourth of households in the districts have tap water connections. Even, Chief Minister's home district which is considered as a water-stressed district in the State is trailing behind in tap water connections.
Similarly, many other districts categorised for having maximum blocks with contaminated water - either hit by the salinity of heavy metals like Arsenic - like Puri, Kemdrapada, Jagatsingpur etc are still trailing in the race of tap water connection in the State.
No Watermark Expenditure
A look at the expenditure pattern under Jal Jeevan Mission in the State revealed that when the assured fund for the State in 2021-22 was Rs 3334.35 cr, funds drawn by the State stood at Rs 1,672 cr. But the expenditure had been only Rs 849 cr. This shows the expenditure has been around 50 percent.
The Reason: Village action plan is yet to be prepared in around 2k odd villages in the State. Works are yet to start in nearly 23.8 k villages.