Puri has become the first Indian city to have a drink-from-tap facility. This implies that the city now has safe drinking water that can be used directly from the tap for consumption without requiring further filtration. The move will benefit around 2.5 lakh residents.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the ‘Sujal’ or drink-from-tap mission this week.
“Puri has now joined the elite group of international cities like London, New York and Singapore in supplying quality potable water from municipal taps throughout the day,”
read a statement by the CMO office.
Besides this, water fountains have been installed at 400 locations in Puri, including the Grand Road. Nearly 2 crore tourists visit Puri every year; they will no longer have to carry water bottles with them while in Puri. This will minimize the plastic waste produced in the city every day.
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“This is the best model of the ‘5T’ initiative. Good drinking water has a strong link with health, living standards, and the economy. Therefore, I urge people not to waste or pollute the water. The budget for drinking water has been doubled in five years. The previous water budget of Rs 200 crore has reached Rs 4,000 crore today,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a press interaction.
“The move will now eliminate the usage of 3 crore plastic water bottles. This would mean the city will now be free from nearly 400 tonnes of plastic waste,”
he added.
Mr. Pantaik said that cyclone Fani had made landfall in Puri on May 3, 2019, and he arrived there on May 5. He was deeply shocked to find the condition of Puri and on the same day, he vowed to develop Puri into a world heritage city.
“The Srikshetra scheme is going on as per plan and with Puri will reach a new peak of development,” he quoted.
The Sujal Mission was launched last October to ensure quality tapped drinking water for more than 1.5 million people in more than 15 cities. It includes a 24/7 helpline center with IVRS for grievance redressal, a mobile water testing laboratory, and a quick response team for rapid redressal of water supply complaints.