Sambalpur: Work on the Rs 96 crore mega drinking water supply project in Rairakhol block of this district has started with an aim to provide safe drinking water to over 15,000 families.
The project was scheduled to be inaugurated by December 2021, well before the panchayat elections but the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) department has extended the deadline to December 2022.
While the department is citing reasons like Covid-19 restrictions and land acquisition problems for the delay, actually the project is running behind schedule owing to the negligence of the contractor firm and the department.
So far, 80 per cent of pipe-laying work has been completed. Of 14 overhead water tanks, only four are completed till date. Similarly, 40 per cent of intake well is yet to be completed.
The pace at which the project’s work is progressing, it is feared that the project will again miss its deadline. Because of this, villagers who have been eagerly waiting for the project to be completed are unhappy. The inordinate delay has affected people of 115 villages of nine panchayats.
It is said that if the project was completed before panchayat elections, it would fulfill the promise of the government and have benefitted the ruling party at the hustings.
When contacted, SDO of RWSS department Manas Ranjan Parida said, “We encountered with several problems like scarcity of labourers due to Covid-19 restrictions resulting in the delay. Besides, there were problems related to land acquisition for the water treatment plant. Delay in getting green signal from the Forest department was another reason for the project’s delay. Now the work is moving at a fast pace and it will end by December 2022”. Notably, the government has sanctioned Rs 96 crore for the project.
PNN