Bhubaneswar: The public health engineering organisation (Pheo) will organise Water Mela, a special camp, through which citizens will be encouraged to obtain piped water connections to their respective households.

The camps will be put in each of the city's 67 wards where citizens will be able to get on-the-spot water supply connection. Officials will provide relevant information about the documentations and fees at these camps.

"It is a good move to ease the process. Many people are not aware of the whole process. They are also reluctant to visit the Pheo office thinking that they will be harassed. The camps will help many," said GGP Colony resident Vikram Ojha.

A joint team of Pheo, civic body and other voluntary and social organisations will conduct door-to-door campaigns to spread awareness about the benefits of piped water and request residents to take the connection.

Such a decision comes after chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced that the urban population would be covered under the piped water supply chain by 2020. A number of water supply projects are being executed under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation.

Water consumption will also be increased to 150 litres per capita per day from the present 130 litres. "We have enough water to supply to the residents, but have low number of consumers. Citizens will be encouraged to get the water supplied by us through the camps," said Pheo superintending engineer C.R. Jena.

At present, Pheo has about 65,000 registered domestic consumers for potable water. They plan to increase the number through the camps to about a lakh by next month.

A high-level meeting was held this week to review the water supply status in the urban pockets. "We will assemble our officials and start conducting the camps," said a housing and urban development department official.