Ganjam: The rural water supply and sanitation department was caught napping when a World Bank team Tuesday visited the seaside Podampeta and Gokharkuda villages in this district and took stock of the construction of cyclone resilient houses.
The team expressed displeasure over the lack of dustbins and drinking water facilities for the beneficiaries of cyclone resilient houses while reviewing the construction.
The team members questioned assistant engineer SN Sahoo about the lack of the facilities and asked him to ensure them for the beneficiaries. Sahoo was accompanying the team during its visit to the villages.
The team went around both the villages and had a threadbare discussion with beneficiaries on their problems.
The cyclone resilient houses are being constructed at Podampeta site-1 and 2 and Gokharkuda villages with finance from the World Bank as the villages have been at the receiving end of high tidal waves.
The fishermen and their families were overjoyed while meeting the World Bank team.
The fisherwomen claimed that their problems had worsened due to lack of dustbins and drinking water in their houses. They asked the assistant engineer to ensure the facilities for all the beneficiaries.
The team asked the authorities to complete the construction of school buildings, Anganwadis and community halls by December.
Meanwhile, the consultancy agency has completed construction of 359 houses. Of them, 190 houses are at site-1 and 169 at site-2. They were built under the Odisha Disaster Recovery Project with finance from the World Bank.
However, it was found that the consultancy agency had not completed the construction of 100 toilets and had manipulated the bills. The villagers alleged that the agency was deliberately delaying the construction.
PNN
