Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday dedicated the ‘Sujal-Drink From Tap Mission’ in Puri under the transformative 5T framework of the State government.
With this, Puri became the first city in the country to achieve city-wide ‘drink from tap’ quality water supply system with 100 per cent metered household connections, stated a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office.
The initiative will benefit more than 2.5 lakh residents of the pilgrim town and millions of people who visit the holy city every year, the official release said. The scheme was today inaugurated at Baliapanda area in Puri.
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The Odisha Government had launched the ‘Sujal-Drink From Tap Mission’ to provide quality potable water which fit for direct consumption from the pipe in October last year.
“The land of Lord Jagannath is always ahead of other cities. Today, Puri has joined the league of big cities in the world to provide safe drinking water to its residents. I thank urban housing development department for executing the project in less than 10 months’ time,” said Patnaik.
According to Patnaik, nearly 2 crore tourists visit Puri every year. The tourists will no longer have to carry water bottles with them while in Puri, he said.
The move will now eliminate the usage of 3 crore plastic water bottles. This would mean the city will now be free from nearly 400 mt tonnes of plastic waste. The project is one of the best under the 5T initiative, Patnaik added.
The initiative was initially started at Salia Sahi in Bhubaneswar and later in Puri to provide safe and purified tap water.