Bhubaneswar: Emphasising the basic need of every household to have access to a clean drinking water supply, Chief Secretary Anu Garg Thursday urged secretaries of the respective departments to identify reasons, propose solutions, and ensure timely completion of piped water supply projects in every village during their monthly field visits. Garg was chairing a high-level meeting of secretaries at Kharavela Bhavan Thursday, attended by additional chief secretaries Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh, Surendra Kumar and Hemant Sharma, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Saswat Mishra, and all other departmental principal secretaries, commissioners, and secretaries. Garg emphasised the importance of monthly field visits by secretaries to districts, with a particular focus on reviewing the progress of drinking water projects.
She noted that many projects are facing delays and urged secretaries to identify the reasons, propose solutions, and ensure timely completion. The meeting also reviewed implementation of 15point programme directed by CM, with secretaries providing updates on departmental actions. The state’s financial performance for financial year 2025-26 was reviewed, including expenditure and revenue collection. Overall departmental expenditure increased by 10 per cent as compared to the previous year, programme expenditure rose by 15 per cent. Revenue collection from various sources grew by 7.82 per cent over the last financial year, attendees informed Garg. Secretaries were instructed to achieve revenue targets and explore new proposals for the upcoming Budget. The Chief Secretary also directed a special review of central grant fund utilisation to ensure effective deployment. On administrative reforms, the Law Department presented proposals to review and repeal outdated laws.
Monthly development reviews with District Collectors will be held January 22 due to prior government commitments. Additionally, state-level meetings of the Single Window Clearance Authority and MoU project progress reviews will continue on the third Tuesday of every month. Garg concluded the meeting with guidance to departmental secretaries to complete work as per targets, monitor expenditure closely, and achieve set revenue collection goals.