Bhubaneswar, Jan 6: The dream of the people here to quench their thirst on the move by swiping a pre-paid smart card remains elusive.

Two years ago, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had planned to set up portable drinking water kiosks or water ATMs - from which one would be able to drink water swiping a pre-paid smart card. However, the project is yet to see the light of the day.

The civic body had recently held a pre-bid meeting for the proposed project. It has stated that requests for the proposal will be invited in two phases - technical and financial.

The BMC has opened the technical bid that was closed on September 11, 2015. However, the financial bid is yet to be invited. In its pre-proposal meeting, the BMC has also reportedly clarified on some queries raised by various agencies regarding various technicalities of the project.

The ambitious project was initiated in 2014. The civic body submitted a detailed project report to state housing and urban development department in early 2015. In October last year, the tender was floated.

"This is quite a big project, which includes construction of decentralised modern drinking water purification plants with water ATMs coupled with smart card facility at various key locations of the city. The project has been decided to be commissioned in design-built-operate-transfer-and-maintain model, which means all the modalities will be done by the selected agency," said a senior civic official.

Based on the detailed project report of the civic body, the selected agency will construct four drinking water purification plants with reverse osmosis (RO) and ultra violet (UV) machinery and four water ATMs. The agency will also provide water to the ATMs with the help of four water tankers. The project cost has been estimated at Rs 46 lakh.

To provide quality drinking water, the authorities have also decided to purify the water in four stages that involves two stages of micro-filtration through carbon particles, one layer of membrane filtration (RO) and one layer of UV purification.

The demand for purified drinking water for the people of the city has grown particularly in the wake of a rise in various water-borne diseases in Bhubaneswar and its adjoining areas. At present, the city has portable drinking water facilities only at railway stations and other public set ups.

"The state should take the responsibility of providing us with purified drinking water. There are not many water kiosks for commuters in the city now. So, we are often forced to drink packaged water despite knowing its serious health hazards," said Janmejaya Pradhan, a resident of Acharya Vihar.

The Telegraph had first reported on the introduction of the portable water kiosks on July 12, 2014. A senior BMC engineer had then told the newspaper that it would take at least three months for the civic body to complete the project. Accordingly, the deadline for the project ended in October 2014.