Mum over Centre's call Orrisa remains high and dry

Mum over Centre's call Orrisa remains high and dry
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

BHUBANESHWAR, DEC 25: At a time when the State is passing through an unprecedented drought and drinking water crisis in the affected areas has reached alarming levels, the State Government's total failure to take advantage of several Central schemes to deal with the situation has come as a surprise to both: the leaders of ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and men at the Centre.

The State Government has so far ignored all the queries made by the Centre on installation of deep bore wells in the drought-affected areas, the cost of which is estimated at Rs. 7 crore. The State's share in the Central scheme is 100 deep bore wells each one of which could provide drinking water to nearly 5,000 people.

However, the State Government is yet to provide a list to the Centre identifying the sites for installation of the bore wells even after a lapse of 25 days. This situation prevails even after the Centre dispatched a senior officer to the State to pursue the matter.

The expenditure record of the Government in drought mitigation projects is equally disheartening. According to sources, the State Government has so far spent only Rs 14 crore of the Rs 94 crore available for augmenting drinking water supply.

A delegation from the BJD including Union Water Resources Minister Arjun Charan Sethi, secretary-general Prasanna Acharya, Bhatruhari Mahtab, Prabhat Samantray and Birbhadra Singh, submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister AB Vajpayee in New Delhi recently demanding Rs 570 crore to deal with the situation. Sources, however, said the Prime Minister was unhappy about the slow pace of expenditure of funds by the State Government.

Meanwhile, the high-level official team headed by Chief Secretary DP Bagchi, which is on a tour of the Western Orissa districts, assessed the drinking water crisis in Balangir, Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Bargarh districts.

The State Government has announced Rs 2.5 crore each for Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Sundergarh districts for launching labour-intensive programmes.