Clean water 24x7: Puri becomes first Indian city to have 'drink-from-tap' facility
Puri in Odisha has become the first Indian city to achieve a 24-hour drink-from-tap facility. This tap water can be used for cooking and drinking, without requiring further filtration.
Odisha's Puri has become the first city in the state to have a drink-from-tap facility. This means that the city now has safe drinking water that can be used directly from tap for cooking and drinking, without requiring further filtration.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the ‘Sujal’ or drink-from-tap mission on Monday.
The drink-from-tap mission of the Odisha government has made Puri the first in the country to have city-wide 24-hour quality drinking water from the tap.
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A statement released by the Chief Minister’s Office said: “Puri has now joined the elite group of international cities like London, New York and Singapore in supplying quality potable water from municipal taps throughout the day.”
The move will benefit around 2.5 lakh residents of Puri.
While addressing the media, CM Patnaik on Monday said: “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of not only Puri, but entire Odisha. From now on, all the families living in Puri Dham of Mahaprabhu will have access to clean drinking water from tap 24 hours. Under the Sujal scheme, one can drink water directly from the tap. Storage or filter is not required.”
Thanking the State Housing & Urban Development Department, the chief minister further said, “Within nine months, 2.5 lakh people in Puri would have access to Sujal facility. It will also benefit two crore tourists arriving at Puri every year. They would not have to carry water bottles everywhere.”
He also said water fountains have been installed at 400 locations in Puri, including the Grand Road. This initiative will minimise plastic waste produced in the city every day.
Highlighting the benefits of the Sujal scheme, Patnaik said, “This is the best model of the '5T' initiative. Good drinking water has a strong link with health, living standards and the economy. Therefore, I urge people not to waste or pollute the water. The budget for drinking water has been doubled in five years. The previous water budget of Rs 200 crore has reached Rs 4,000 crore today.
Durgashankar Mishra, secretary, Housing and Urban Affairs, said: “The implementation of the country's first drink-from-tap project on the first Monday of the month of Shravan in Mahaprabhu Jagannath's city is a matter of great pride.”
The inaugural of Sujal scheme was also attended by the Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Pratap Jena. He said that the drink-from-tap project is being implemented in 14 cities across Odisha.
“The chief minister has always attached great importance to providing high-quality facilities in the cities, and the Sujal scheme implementation in Puri is his dream come true,” he said.
However, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has termed it an "election gimmick". The BJP alleged that 69 per cent of households in the state still do not have access to piped drinking water after 21 years of Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) rule.
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