Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday directed the Housing and Urban Development department to ensure supply of pipe water to all urban households of the state by March 2019.

While reviewing the drinking water supply situation in the urban areas during a high-level meeting, Patnaik directed the department to ensure 100 per cent supply to each family in all the towns and cities and increase the per head drinking water supply to 70 litres in the urban areas by March 2019.

The meeting discussed about the number of sources and quantity of water being supplied to all towns and cities, steps being taken to measure the quantity of water being supplied and also the number of active connections.

The Chief Minister further directed the housing and urban development department to conduct a survey in all urban localities in the state and identify the families that have no pipe water facilities.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Niranjan Pujari, after the review meeting said, "Our target is to provide drinking water to all the houses by 2019, be it slum areas or other pockets. At present, around 60% people are facilitated with drinking water while rest 40% we have to achieve by next year."

As per a report of the housing and urban development department, a total of 760 projects are currently being implemented in the state at a cost of Rs 3596 crore to supply drinking water in all the urban local bodies.

This apart, the department has identified 422 areas under 185 wards of the 24 urban localities in the state having water scarcity and 1,869 PVC tanks have been put up to store and supply drinking water. Besides 219 water tankers have also been engaged in these areas, sources said.

Chief Secretary AP Padhi stated, "As per the review of Chief Minister, all the projects are underway at a good pace. Most of the projects will get completed by December this year, whereas a few mega projects would continue till March 2019."

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