Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday said his government is committed to provide drinking water to every village of the State by 2026. While addressing the State-level celebration of National Panchayati Raj Day in Puri, Majhi said many people in rural areas are still deprived of basic facilities like drinking water, electricity supply, pucca house and road to their village.

“After taking oath on June 12, 2024, our government has launched ‘Viksit Gaon, Viksit Odisha’ (developed village for developed Odisha) programme for overall development of the villages,” he said. The Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department has allocated Rs 10,000 crore for the special programme to build required infrastructures in the villages, he said.

The government has set a target to provide drinking water and roads to every village by 2026, he said, adding that the government is also committed to provide pucca houses to all. Majhi said, “Earlier the housing scheme beneficiaries were selected through party affiliation. But, now our government has completely stopped the practice and conducted a fresh survey to identify all eligible people for the rural housing schemes.”

The Chief Minister said more than 23 lakh houses have been constructed in the State under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin), while another 4 lakh houses are under construction. An-other 26 lakh people have been listed for providing houses under the Central scheme, he said. Besides, the State government has decided to provide 5 lakh houses to poor and needy people like destitute, PwDs, natural calamity victims, etc, under Antyodaya Gruha Jojana (AGJ), Majhi said.

This financial year, a budget of Rs 2,600 crore has been allocated for the AGJ, while a total of Rs 7,550 crore will be spent in the next three years, he added. Not a single person will be de-prived of a pucca house after the construction of the houses under the schemes, he said.

Similarly, Majhi said many eligible poor persons were deprived of rations under the govern-ment’s food security schemes as they were not included in the public distribution system. “Af-ter our government came to power, we have opened the portal for receiving applications from such poor people. We have selected 6 lakh eligible people and started distribution of ration cards to them from today,” he stated.