Jan. 15: All the 107 civic bodies across the state today signed a memorandum of understanding with the public health engineering organisation (PHEO) for better co-ordination to ensure improved drinking water supply.

Bhubaneswar

Superintending engineer of public health, Bhubaneswar circle, Chitta Ranjan Jena, said both his department and the municipal corporation would nominate a nodal officer each to co-ordinate between these two public offices. Commissioner Krishan Kumar said this new agreement would help in providing better service to people.

Cuttack

Public health department superintendent engineer, Cuttack circle, Basant Senapati said that of the 59 wards, only 44 were fully covered by pipe-water supply. A project for extending potable drinking water from the Mahanadi would shortly be implemented. Over Rs 360 crore will be spent to set up reservoirs, replace and repair old pipes.

Sambalpur

'Now, the Sambalpur Municipal Corporation will play a role in the water supply service of the city,' said PHEO executive engineer M.R. Nanda, adding that the plan was to supply water to all the 42,000 households in the city.

Berhampur

'We assure the supply of 135 litters of quality water per head, and we take the responsibility of maintenance and supply,' said executive engineer of the public health Deb Sundar Mohapatra, who signed the MoU with the Berhampur Municipal Corporation.