Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) today lashed out at the opposition BJP for criticising the country’s first Drink-from-Tap programme, ‘Sujal Yojana’ launched in Puri.
BJP State General Secretary Golak Mohapatra today alleged that the drink-from-tap that was launched in Puri on Monday, was earlier launched by the state government in October 2020 and advertisement of the same was published on various media. He alleged that the state government is misleading the people of Odisha by launching similar schemes again and again.
When asked about the BJP leader’s allegations in a press meet here today, BJD Spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said that the Sujal Yojana has transformed Puri and placed it on the world map alongside Los Angeles and Singapore. However, this seems to be a case of sour grapes for the BJP as they are criticising the scheme.
“We had thought BJP leader Golak Mohapatra would consider himself as an Odia first and then a BJP party person. We had hoped as an Odia he would feel proud for such a national achievement by Odisha for the people of Puri but unfortunately he is focused on giving false, baseless, and concocted statements and playing cheap politics over such a historic project for Puri’s transformation,” said Mohanty.
The conch party spokesperson further said that Mohapatra and the Odisha BJP are jealous and intolerant to the development of Puri and its people. “It seems that due to their negativity towards Puri and its people probably, they are criticizing and trying to dilute the good work that has been done through Sujal programme for the people of Puri,” added Mohanty.
Notably, Puri has become the first city in India to achieve Drink-from-Tap quality 24 x 7 water supply adhering to Quality Standards of IS 10500.
This transformative initiative of the Odisha government’s ‘Sujal’ or ‘Drink From Tap’ mission falls under the 5T Governance Mantra and is set to benefit the city’s 2.5 lakh local population and 2 crore tour-ists who visit the holy city of Lord Jagannath annually.
Chief Minister Patnaik inaugurated the water supply system at Puri virtually and the initiative has been launched under the ‘Jalsathi’ programme by partnering with women self-help groups (SHGs) of Mission Shakti in community-led water supply management.
The state-of-the-art technology, which allows people to drink directly from the tap, has become a reality in India for the first time. Puri now has 100% metered household water connections with safe drinking water round-the-clock, joining the league of global cities like London, Singapore and New York.
The provision of safe drinking water will further help prevent the usage of 3crore plastic bottles eliminating 400 metric tonnes of plastic waste.
Comments are closed.