Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Sunday unveiled 141 water resources projects worth Rs 2,612 crore.
Addressing the programme, which was organised on the occasion of World Water Day, Majhi said his government’s aim was to remove gender inequality in water management and strengthen the rural economy.
Water security is the prime condition for building a prosperous and developed Odisha. For this, we have engaged women and self-help groups as Jala Sathis, he said, appealing to people not to waste a single drop of water.
Majhi said his government was working to eliminate water scarcity by providing safe piped drinking water to every household.
Water scarcity affects the poor the most. Therefore, providing clean water to people at the bottom of the society is a part of the state’s policy. Our government is working to provide safe water to every village. We are promoting the policy of ‘per drop more crop’ in the farming sector, he said.
At the programme, Majhi inaugurated 124 projects worth Rs 320 crore and laid the foundation stones for 17 projects to be developed at Rs 2,292 crore.
Majhi said his government created irrigation facilities for about 2.20 lakh hectares of land through various irrigation schemes in the last 21 months.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Chief Minister KV Singh Deo urged the CM not to demolish low-level bridges to replace them with higher barrages. He said gates can be fitted to the existing bridges to facilitate water conservation, while new ones are built alongside them.
Majhi directed the officers concerned to study the proposal and submit a report.
The CM also inaugurated the Child Care Centre, Kalika, at Rajiv Bhavan and launched ‘Bindu’ chatbot — an AI-powered citizen feedback system.