Jharsuguda: Odisha Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra visited Jharsuguda district on Saturday to review progress of various development projects and said the state has set a target to ensure that at least 50 per cent of households in rural and urban areas get piped water by this year.
Mohapatra held a meeting with the district officials and set timelines for various phases of projects.
He directed officials to closely monitor it for timely completion and ensuring quality of the work.
“We have set a target to ensure that at least 50 per cent of the households in rural and urban areas get piped water by this year,” he said at a press briefing.
Mohapatra stated that the existing power substations would be upgraded, and new ones would be installed for reliable electricity supply to the 11 mega lift irrigation projects, which are being constructed in various places of the district.
He also visited the project sites of the cardiac care hospital and set a target to operationalise it in around six months.
The chief secretary asked the agriculture department to encourage farmers to diversify and aware them of benefits of cultivating non-paddy crops.
Horticulture, oilseeds and pulses can be cultivated on a large scale, he said.
The officials were asked to be in direct touch with farmers and give necessary guidance, agricultural input and technical know-how.
The revenue and disaster management departments were directed to complete the land survey and settlement in favour of the dam-affected families living in the fringe areas of the Hirakud reservoir.
PTI