Odisha govt inks LoU for 'drink from tap mission' with UNICEF

In a bid to provide quality drinking water to every urban household in the state, Odisha has inked a Letter of Understanding (LoU) on "drink from tap mission" with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, "Investment in water is an investment in health, investment in health is an investment in future. Providing quality drinking water to every household in the state is one of the top priorities of the government"

"Investment in water is a critical layer of foundation to make Odisha a healthy society and eventually a productive state," he added.

Giving details about the initiative taken by the Urban Development Ministry, he said: "To ensure the availability of safe water in each and every urban areas, we will adopt community-based water management system at ward-level, involving Women Self help Groups, which will ensure the household connection for every household, meter reading, billing, collection of water tariff, complaint management, filed quality testing by using standard tools, etc."

According to the Housing and Urban Development Department, UNICEF will provide technical cooperation to the government of Odisha for implementation of the "drink from tap" program which aims at providing piped quality drinking water supply to each household on a 24-hour basis, in first phase 1.20 lakh people are going to benefit.