Bhubaneswar: Only 25 of the 207 mega piped water supply projects initiated by the Odisha government in the last five years have been completed, the Assembly was informed Tuesday.
Responding to queries from several members on the delay in completion of drinking water projects, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister (PR&DW) Rabi Narayan Naik said that of the 207 projects, 25 have been completed from financial years 2020-21 to 2025-26.
The previous (BJD) government had completed only three mega drinking water supply projects, while the current dispensation has completed over 22 projects in the last 17 months, he said.
Similarly, the previous BJD dispensation had completed civil works in only 16 projects, while the present administration has completed over 90 per cent of the civil works of 66 projects, Naik said.
During the tenure of the BJP government, the state has expedited solar pump and small drinking water projects, he pointed out.
“It was due to the incompetence of the BJD government, people in rural areas were deprived of drinking water. The previous dispensation just procured pipes and laid those down without making progress in other civil works to supply the water,” the minister said.
Slamming the opposition BJD, Naik said the previous government had provided 80 per cent of the total funds to the executive agencies without seeing the progress on the ground.
“A total allocation of Rs 35,193.24 crore has been earmarked for the projects, out of which an expenditure of Rs 17, 502.12 crore has been incurred during the period from financial years 2020-21 to 2025-26,” he said.
Naik said certain projects have been delayed due to various factors, including land acquisition issues, negligence of implementing agencies, delays in statutory approvals and right-of-way (ROW) clearances from different departments.
In this connection, penalties have been imposed on defaulting agencies and show-cause notices issued to them, the minister said.
To address these challenges, the government has taken corrective measures, including the establishment of appropriate institutional mechanisms, such as the formation of a high-level committee, headed by the development commissioner and secretaries of stakeholder departments as members. It conducts monthly review meetings.
Another committee headed by the secretary of PR&DW Department has also been formed with engineers-in-chief of all infrastructure departments as members, he stated.
In addition to this, district-level coordination meetings are being conducted on a monthly basis under the chairmanship of the collector to resolve pending approvals and issues expeditiously, and monitoring systems have been strengthened to expedite the progress of works, Naik added.
Participating in the discussion, Cuttack MLA Sofia Firdous questioned how all the mega projects were given to only 17 contractors and advance funds worth Rs 35,000 crore were released. She demanded a Vigilance inquiry into the matter.
In his reply, the minister said the previous government had given the contract to the firms from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other states.
Stating that the BJP government believes in transparency, Naik hinted that action can be taken in future.
The BJP government is committed to providing water supply to all households by 2027, he stated.
PTI