FIRST CITY TO ACHIEVE
BY : NEHA SHAHAB
Naveen Patnaik led Odisha government has declared Puri as the first city in the country to have city-wide safe drinking tap water .Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday inaugurated the ‘Drink From Tap’ mission in Puri, making it ‘the first city in India’ to achieve 24/7 quality drinking water supply.
The initiative to provide water supply adhering to ‘Quality Standards of IS 10500’ will benefit the city’s 2.5- lakh population and 2 crore tourists who visit the holy place annually, he said.
The State Government has planned to cover all urban areas of Odisha by March 2022, making it the state first to do so in India. Supplying drink-from-tap quality water to every home, similar to developed nations like USA, England, Japan, Singapore," the state government said in a statement.
Drinking water foundation at public places to discourage use of plastic water bottles. It will help eliminate of 400 metric tons of plastic waste per annum in Puri city. Under implementation in 16 more towns including Cuttack, Rourkela, and Berhampur benefiting around 40 lakh urban population.