Bhubaneswar, March 10 Members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, from all political parties, expressed concern on Tuesday over the lack of safe drinking water in several rural areas of the state ahead of the summer season.
The members, including BJP's Manoranjan Dyan Samantara, BJD chief whip Pramila Mallik, and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rama Chandra Kadam, raised the issue during the Question Hour of the assembly.
Samantara initiated the discussion by raising questions about the lack of safe drinking water for people in the three panchayats of his Chikiti constituency.
"While the previous government had not taken any steps to provide drinking water to the residents of these three panchayats, the BJP government has deployed tankers to supply water in the area," he said.
The BJP legislator stated that a permanent solution is needed, and a large-scale water supply project has been proposed, but work on the intake well in the area has not yet started.
Similarly, Mallik expressed concern over reports of a rising number of cancer and kidney-related ailments in the Dasarathpur block of Jajpur district, allegedly linked to the consumption of contaminated tube-well water.
"Is the government aware of this?" she asked while seeking clarification on the steps being taken to ensure safe drinking water in the block.
Kadam alleged that the state government has failed to provide safe drinking water to rural residents.
He said that all parts of the state are facing a drinking water crisis, and the MLAs are facing public anger.
The Congress leader asked the government when the large-scale drinking water projects will be completed, and all households will have access to safe water.
In response to the questions, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Rabi Narayan Naik said that the previous government had dug 26,000 tube-wells during its tenure, while the BJP government has dug the same number of tube-wells in one year.
There was a commotion in the assembly as ruling and opposition members engaged in a heated exchange of words while the minister was replying to Mallik's question.
He informed the assembly that the government has provided tap water connections to over 68 lakh households, ensuring around 77 per cent coverage.
To ensure a safe and adequate drinking water supply to all rural households, the state government has taken up a total of 207 large-scale drinking water supply projects in the state, Naik said.
Of these, 26 projects have been completed, and another 28 projects will be completed by the end of this month, the minister said, adding, "We have set a target to complete all remaining projects by March 2027."
Due to a lack of proper planning, the intake well (source of water) in about 18 projects has been changed to other locations, he said.
Naik said that the government is aware of the reports of contaminated water in Dasarathpur, and the large-scale drinking water project in the area will be completed by June, as 96 per cent of the work has been completed.
The minister appealed to all MLAs to come forward and extend a helping hand to the government for the early execution of the pending drinking water projects.