BHUBANESWAR: All gram panchayat (GP) headquarters in Odisha will have piped drinking water facility by December, 2018. During a review meeting here at secretariat, chief minister Naveen Patnaik directed to ensure that the projects must be completed within scheduled time.Of total 6801 panchayats in Odisha, piped drinking water has been ensured in 5586 panchayat headquarters while work is on to extend the facilities in remaining 1215 panchayat headquarters, said an official statement. The chief minister also reviewed the activities of the Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC), a fund constituted for overall development of the people in mining affected areas.The state government has identified as many as 691 villages in eight mineral-bearing districts like Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kendujhar, Koraput, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh to spend the fund constituted in January 2014, official sources said.The OMBADC was constituted in January 2014 with contribution of money from the mining lessees. So far, over Rs 1000 crore has been generated under it. So far, projects of worth Rs 900 crore have been approved for these villages under the OMBADC. These include 29,829 housing units, 196 drinking water projects, plantations and forest regeneration in the areas affected by mining, said an official statement issued by the chief secretary's office.It was decided to complete all the housing projects with toilets and running water by December, 2017. The panchayati raj and drinking water department was also asked to ensure piped water supply to each and every household in the identified villages, official sources said.The Supreme Court in its August 2 verdict on illegal mining in Odisha has asked the chief secretary to file an affidavit about the developmental activities undertaken through OMBADC. As forest regeneration is one of the key components of the OMBADC fund, the forest department was asked to intensify plantation activities for increasing green coverage in mining affected areas. It was further decided to take up intensive soil and moister conservation activities in all forest pockets of the identified area.

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