Kendrapara: Inhabitants of four villages in Chatarachakoda panchayat in this district who earlier struggled to fetch a bucketful of potable water in summer are this year availing uninterrupted water supply.
The panacea to their woes has been a solar-powered water project. The state government-sponsored pilot project caters to the drinking water needs of 3,619 people of the panchayat.
According to reports, the project was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as part of Biju Patnaik Birth Centenary celebrations March 5, 2016 at an estimated cost of Rs 128.85 lakh.
Four villages – Chatarachakoda, Mukundpur, Hapi Melaka and Chatara Sasan, were covered under the state’s maiden solar-powered drinking water project. The project supplies water to households through pipelines.
It usually takes two to three hours to fill water in the 1 lakh liter capacity overhead tank, said Bibhuti Ranjan Panda, assistant executive engineer of RWSS, Kendrapara.
“Whatever is the weather condition, every day we get safe drinking water twice through the project,” said Radhashyam Das, a local.
“Earlier, the people of the panchayat were facing an acute scarcity of drinking water in the summer season. But the project has made our lives easy. We get sufficient water without paying a penny,” said Payal Majhi, a woman of Chatarachakoda.
Meanwhile, the people of Gobindapur, a village that comes under Chatarachakoda panchayat, have urged the RWSS authorities to provide piped water to their village from this project.
Plans are afoot to provide piped water supply to households of Gobindapur, said Panda.
As Kendrapara district is vulnerable to natural calamities, people have urged the government to set up more such projects in coastal pockets. PNN
