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Bhubaneswar: Rs2,600 cr ($393 million) mega water project in offing

The State Government has made a plan to implement a Mega Flow Water Scheme at a cost of Rs2,600 crore through which 70 litre of safe water per head would be provided to all households in the State.

Rural Development Minister Badrinarayan Patra said this in the Assembly on Tuesday while replying to a question of Congress MLA Chiranjib Biswal and other members.

Conceding to the members’ concerns that dearth in safe water supply has been a major problem in most of the rural areas, the Minister said flow water from rivers would be supplied to every village under the new scheme. “Fluoride content in water is a major problem in most areas. To provide safe water to all, the new scheme has been mooted. It would be implemented in phased manner as the cost of expenditure is estimated between Rs2500 to Rs2600 crore,” the Minister said.

He informed that the mega project would be started from Nuapada district as the fluoride content in ground water is more there. Currently, 55 litre of potable water per head is being supplied but under the new project, 77 litre of water would be supplied from overhead tanks, he said.

Members like Amarar Prasad Satpathy, Tara Prasad Bahinipati, Padmanav Behera, Subal Sahu, Prasant Muduli, KV Singh Deo, Pritiranjan Ghadai put additional questions. Most of them complained that kidney disease is spreading in rural areas due to use of fluoride water in their respective constituencies.

The Minister too expressed concerned that the Centre is yet to inform the State about fund allocation towards taking up water supply projects in the State. “We have sought Rs659 crore for the purpose. As of now the Centre has provided us Rs68 crore. Though the Centre should have informed us about fund allocation by March, we have not received any information by now. We have expedited the ongoing projects spending State fund of Rs300 crore,” the Minister said.

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