The Drink from Tap (DFT) Mission for the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Odisha has become a national model, with the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs issuing a notification for adoption of the model by other states.
Odisha Water Academy has been empanelled as a leading capacity building institute at the national level, wherein the Chief Executive of Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO), Odisha has also been included as a member of the National Task Force, the Odisha government said in a statement.
This was known from an interactive session held between a high-level administrative team from Karnataka and officers from the Government of Odisha recently.
Displaying interest in the Odisha model of DFT Mission, a 20-member Karnataka team led by Urban Development Secretary, Dr Ajaya Nagbhusan and Managing Director of Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board KP Mohan Raj had an interactive session with Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development, Odisha, G Mathivathanan along with senior officers of the department at Water Academy of Odisha.
Mainly the technological, executive, operational, upkeep, outreach, and replication facets of the Mission were discussed in the session.
After the interaction, a team visited various parts of Puri and Bhubaneswar to have a field-level exposure, and see the effectiveness of the Mission activities at ground zero level.
In July 2021, this scheme was rolled out for the entire population in Puri Municipality. Presently, a population of around 2.5 lakh in Puri is using the water directly from the tap for drinking and cooking purposes without further filtration. The project is being rolled out in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack cities.
For this purpose, Bhubaneswar has been divided into 98 zones out of which 24x7 DFT has already been started in 10 zones. Similarly, Cuttack city has been divided into 14 Zones for DFT out of which 2 Zones have been completed. Work is also going on for completing the project in Brahmapur city by August 2023. The project is simultaneously being implemented in different ULBs of Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, and Jajpur districts. It has been targeted to cover major 17 cities of State under the Mission by December 2023.
( With inputs from ANI )
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