The Odisha Cabinet has approved drinking water projects worth Rs 1,200 crore

Bhubaneswar, Aug 13 (IANS) The Odisha Cabinet on Friday approved rural piped water supply projects worth more than Rs 1,200 crore for three districts.

The cabinet, in the meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has approved the tender amounting to Rs 501.85 crore for execution of mega piped water supply project to provide safe drinking water in Dhenkanal district out of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) funding, said state Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pradip Kumar Amat.

Similarly, the lowest tender of Rs 416.57 crore has been approved by the cabinet for execution of another drinking water project in Kendrapara district.

The third drinking water supply project to be executed in Balasore district with an investment of Rs 291.62 crore. The drinking water projects are targeted to be completed within a period of 24 months,Ahe said.

The state government has also approved implementation of roof top rain water harvesting system under a scheme titled Community Harnessing and Harvesting rainwater Artificially from Terrace to Aquifer (CHHATA) for a period of five years with a budget outlay of Rs 270 crore.

The scheme will be implemented in 29,500 private buildings and 1,925 government buildings covering 52 blocks and 27 urban local bodies of the state from 2022-23 to 2026-27, said Chief Secretary S.C. Mahapatra.

The cabinet has also decided for raising and strengthening of 36 saline embankments measuring total length of 198.81 km to cyclone resilient standards to sustain the impact of very severe cyclone with speeds upto 250 km/hour.

This project will protect the adjacent landmass and habitation from floods, saline ingress and tidal surge of Bay of Bengal in four cyclone prone coastal districts--Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Puri, said Mahapatra.

The Cyclone Resilient Saline Embankment Projects are to be executed during the period from 2022-23 to 2024-25 at an outlay of Rs 763.48 crore, he added.

The cabinet further approved the tender of over Rs 1,000 crore for execution of underground pipeline system for speedy completion of the Lower Suktel irrigation project of Bolangir district.

Moreover, the government also decided on construction of a barrage-cum-bridge across river Koel near village Hamirpur in Sundargarh district with a cost of Rs 309 crore.