Bhubaneswar, Aug. 5: The municipal corporation has set its eye on providing drinking water to every household within its jurisdiction.
The corporation plans to meet its target with help of the centrally-sponsored Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut).
Under the scheme, a civic body will receive Rs 100 crore in phases over the next five years to improve water supply, sewerage and waste water disposal, storm water drainage, non-motorised transport and develop green space (especially for children).
However, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to focus on water supply.
Municipal commissioner Krishan Kumar said: "Our priority will be to supply drinking water to the uncovered areas of the city such as Pahala, its surroundings and Pandra along National Highway No. 5. Besides commissioning new water supply schemes, the existing ones will be upgraded."
The city has a population of around 8.85 lakh, while its water supply requirement is 119.62 million litres per day (MLPD). The actual quantum of water supplied to households everyday is 264.77 MLPD.
However, despite the surplus of 145.27 MLPD, nearly 40 per cent of the city's population is deprived of pipe water supply according to the data available with the Public Health Engineering Organisation.
To meet its target of pipe water supply, the number of households in each zone (with or without connections) will be assessed through a service level improvement plan (Slip). For this, the corporation will go by the 2011 Census data.
"Once the gap between the existing number of households having water and the total number of houses is computed, Slip will be implemented,'' said a senior BMC engineer.
Once the civic body starts achieving success in the pipe water supply front, other aspects of the Amrut mission will be implemented.
"While the focus will be on introducing and designing roads for cyclists, especially in the futuristic ring road project, more and more use of foot overbridges will also bring down road mishaps,'' said BMC's additional public relations officer Gopal Panigrahi.
Ashrujit Mohanty, a member of city-based cyclist group, said: "We all ride bicycles'. At present, there are around 2.5 to 3 lakh bicycles in the state capital, but nearly 1 lakh are on the road. With in future the focus will be on non-motorised mode of transport, more people can use it for a better environment.''
Apart from other focus areas such as sewerage and drainage renovations, the civic body is preparing a preliminary plan to remodel and make all its 28 parks kids friendly.
"Many parks are having rides for children, but we would have them at more facilities so that children will spend more time amidst nature,'' said an engineer.
