Bhubaneswar: Around 59 per cent of rural population in nine western Orissa districts are deprived of piped water supply (PWS).
According to the statistics of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water departments, nine districts – Bolangir, Bargarh, Boudh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Sambalpur, Sonepur and Sundargarh — are under Western Orissa Development Council (WODC) and close to 59 per cent rural population in all these districts are yet to avail piped water supply.
Of the total population of 83, 75,580 in these districts, only 34.76 lakh people — only 41.50 per cent – have PWS access in rural areas. The statistics reveal that of 14.74 lakh rural population, only 7.57 lakh in Bolangir are connected with PWS.
Likewise, Only 6.77 lakh out of 13.33 lakh rural population in Bargarh; 1.15 lakh out of 4.3 lakh in Boudh; 6.96 lakh out of 15.54 lakh in Kalahandi; 4.18 lakh out of 13.84 lakh in Sundargarh; 1.15 lakh out of 4.31lakh in Boudh; 1.49 lakh out of 3.70 lakh in Jharsuguda; 2.15 lakh out of 5.5 lakh in Nuapada; 2.62 lakh out of 6.72 lakh in Sambalpur and 2.14 lakh out of 5.93 lakh rural population in Sonepur have PWS connection.
As of last fiscal (2016-17), the state government has been able to supply drinking water to only 10.40 lakh families out of 20.47 lakh families and the total population of these 10.40 lakh families is 34.76 lakh.
According to officials, the state government, in the last three years, has been able to provide piped water supply connections to 22,920 villages across the state and has set a target to provide connections to the remaining 25,946 villages and habitations by 2018-19.
Meanwhile, out of 6,801 gram panchayats (GPs) in the state, 5,586 GPs have access to PWS facility while 1,215 are still deprived of it.
Sudarsan Maharana, OP
