Bhubaneswar: Puri has achieved a unique difference to become the first Indian city to get good quality pipe drinking water all the time, said the state government on Monday.
Launch ambitious projects under banners ‘sujal – drinks from tap mission’ through a virtual platform, Chairman of the Minister of Naveen Patnaik said Puri has now joined the league of international cities such as London, New York and Singapore in supplying quality drinking water from beats 24/7 .
“The launch of ‘Sujal: drink Tap Mission’ in Puri is a new chapter in the development of Odisha.
It makes heritage first city in India to achieve this milestone, standards match the supply of drinking water in many foreign cities.
Approximately 2.5 people Lakh City of Puri and two tourist crore visiting the city every year can now get quality drinking water from a knock without the need to save and filter water, “said Naveen in his speech from the virtual platform.
Drinking fountains have been established 400 locations in Puri to ensure that visitors do not carry plastic bottles.
The government hopes that the SUJAL pipe water scheme will eliminate the use of 3 bottles of crore plastic, preventing 400 metric tons of plastic waste every year in Puri.
Naveen said Sujal, which is a transformative project under the Government 5T charter, has been assigned only in nine months.
The project will then be expanded to 16 other urban areas with 40 lakh populatios n in the state.
Naveen said quality drinking water is closely related to good health, the human and economic development index.
To ensure that the state community gets quality drinking water, the Odisha government has increased its budget from Rs 200 Crore to Rs 4,000 Crore in the last five years.
The government said this initiative was launched under the ‘Jalsathi’ program by partnering with self-help group (SHG) Shakti mission.
Quality supervision of drinking water supply will be carried out by ‘JALSATHIS’ from women shg.
Housing Minister of Housing and Urban Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra, who attended the launch of the Piped Sujal Water Project, appreciated the Odisha government to achieve a milestone and said it would work as a role model for other countries.
Chief Secretary of the Suresh Mohapatra, Secretary of 5T v K Pandian, State Housing and Urban Development Secretary G Mathi Vathan and Minister of Pratap Jena among other officials attended the project launch.