Orissa Government gears up to tackle scorching summer

Taking note of the acute shortage of drinking water in the coming summer, the Orissa government has decided to dig around 1,000 tube wells in urban areas across the state.

A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here on Tuesday. It was decided at the meeting that in order to improve the drinking water facilities it rural areas, it was decided in the meeting, Rs 217 crore would be spent to execute 21 big projects.

This apart, open well would be set up in 260 habitat areas to overcome the fluoride mixed water. Three mobile vans and one water tanker would be deployed in each block to meet the demands of people in case of emergency.

The state government has already released Rs 67 crore for improvement of drinking water facilities in Puri. It was also decided that water would be supplied to the people of Berhampur through tankers and steps would be taken to improve the water connectivity facilities in coming three years.

The probable water scarcity that is likely to hit Baripada, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Balangir, Boudh, Bhawanipatna, Talcher, Khariar and Koraput was also discussed at the meeting. Earlier, the chief minister convened a meeting to take stock of the situation on the progress of the implementation of the Biju KBK and Biju Gajapati Yojana. It was decided that thrust would be given to build more roads under this scheme.

The state government has sanctioned Rs 18 crore for Biju Kandhamal and Rs 10.50 crore for Biju Gajapati Yojana in the last year budget.