Bhubaneswar: The 19th Steering Committee of the Odisha Water and Sanitation Mission and the Jal Jeevan Mission State Apex Committee met on Tuesday at Lok Seva Bhawan under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Anu Garg.
Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department Shubha Sharma, Commissioner and Secretary, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department Girish SN, and secretaries of concerned departments attended the meeting.
Drinking Water and Sanitation Director Vineet Bhardwaj presented a detailed report on the progress of ODSM works, qualitative improvement in drinking water services, ongoing projects, and reform measures.
Key project updates shared in the meeting:
Mega Piped Water Supply Projects: Out of 207 projects, 42 have been completed. Intensification and water treatment plant work of 44 more projects has been completed and partial or full water supply has started. The monitoring system has been strengthened to expedite completion of all projects.
Small Drinking Water Projects: Out of 19,086 projects, 18,737 have been completed. The remaining projects are targeted for completion by October 2026.
Solar Projects: Out of 8,863 solar projects, 6,637 have been completed. The target is to complete the remaining by November 2026.
The committee discussed the management and maintenance policy and reform measures under Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 to further strengthen rural drinking water systems. Focus areas included technical assistance at village and panchayat level, institutional reforms, tripartite agreements between panchayats and construction companies, citizen-centric water quality monitoring, sustainability of water resources, water security, and community participation in water management.
Under ‘Sujalam Bharat – Digital Governance’, more than 94,000 villages have been provided with clean water so far. Geo-tagging, project inspection, fisheries, and the Command and Control Center work is scheduled for completion by December 2026. Capacity building of water sector employees, human resource requirements, financial literacy, and research and innovation were also discussed.
On “Har Ghar Jal”, drinking water has been provided to 16,724 villages in the state, and water supply has been confirmed in 12,484 villages. The remaining villages are targeted to be covered by October 2026.
The meeting also reviewed data from the “Water Service Assessment”, submission of the State Improvement Plan, approval of drinking water projects for all villages under PM-JANMAN and DA-JGUA, and 100% tap water connections.
The progress of Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) was reviewed as well. More than 96% of villages in the state have been declared ODF Plus model villages. The committee also focused on solid and liquid waste management.
