Cuttack: The municipal corporation has singed an agreement with banks in the city for jala chhatras or roadside kiosks to provide drinking water to people from earthen pots in the summer.

Earlier, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation used to set up more than a hundred such jala chhatras during the summer months. But, it had stopped the practice in 2015 and urged the public health engineering organisation (Pheo) to set up at least two plastic tanks in each of the city's 59 wards.

Pheo's Cuttack division has since set up plastic tanks in all the wards.

Ranjan Kumar Biswal, chairman of the civic body's standing committee for health, sanitation and water supply, said: "We have tied up with the State Bank of India and the ICICI Bank, with whom we have accounts, to set up the jala chhatras this summer."

Biswal said the banks would set up two jala chaatras in each of the 59 wards under the municipal area. "Around 30 jala chhatras have already been set up. The rest are expected to be set up by April 15," he said.

Though Pheo set up 130 plastic tanks of 1,000 to 1,500-litre capacity in all the wards, not everyone is happy with the option. " Jala chhatras are essential for commuters alongside plastic tanks," said Cuttack Mahanagar Shanti Committee secretary Bhikari Das.

Lawyer Ajay Mohanty had sought the high court's intervention through a PIL last summer on grounds that the plastic tanks were no alternative to the jala chhatras. He claimed that no steps were being taken to ensure that water in the plastic tanks remained cool. The tanks are left exposed to the sun without protective sheds.

Besides, almost all the plastic tanks were set up in the interior areas, close to the slums and far from the main roads. As a result, those were not within the reach of commuters, the petition said.

The high court had, in May 2017, directed the municipal corporation to take steps to ensure provision of drinking water through jala chhatras.

The civic body has implemented the high court order this year through the tie-up with the banks. "We adopted the bank route as setting up 100-odd jala chhatras meant an expenditure of nearly Rs 20 lakh a year," Biswal said.

Sources, however, said the civic body had discontinued setting up jala chaatras after the audit wing raised objections to unaccounted for expenditure of Rs 12 lakh to 14 lakh a year.

Besides, most of these kiosks ended up as mere advertisement platforms for the civic body as they went dry without within a week of their inauguration because of lack of volunteers.