Odisha plans to ensure roads, power, drinking water in all villages by 2027

The Odisha government’s Mission PoWaR is proposed to function with a dedicated team led by a senior officer and supported by a separate secretariat

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is considering launching an integrated initiative titled Mission PoWaR — short for Power, Water and Roads — with the goal of providing every village with electricity, piped drinking water, and all-weather road connectivity by December 2027, a senior official of the state’s planning and convergence department said.

The proposed mission is being built in the wake of persistent reports highlighting the poor state of basic amenities in large parts of rural Odisha. (Representational image)

The proposed mission is being built in the wake of persistent reports highlighting the poor state of basic amenities in large parts of rural Odisha.

“While power, drinking water, and road connectivity remain the three most essential needs of citizens, thousands of villages still lack one or more of these basic facilities. The lack of all-weather roads result in lots of inconvenience like ambulance not reaching to the villages to attend emergencies. Many times the press and electronic media flashing news of patients, particularly pregnant mothers being carried on shoulders to the nearest ambulance point due to lack of road to the villages,” said the official, adding that a meeting in this connection has been convened on November 10.

According to official estimates, out of 59,971 villages in Odisha, around 8,300 still remain disconnected from all-weather roads. The absence of road links has led to repeated incidents of ambulances failing to reach remote areas — with patients, including pregnant women, often carried on shoulders to the nearest motorable point.

The situation is no better when it comes to piped drinking water. A promise by the previous government to provide universal piped water supply by 2022 remains largely unfulfilled, and the revised target of 2026 is also likely to be missed given the slow progress of ongoing projects. Similarly, many households continue to await electrification despite central and state schemes aimed at achieving universal access.

A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in September this year had raised serious concerns over the quality and safety of drinking water in key urban centres, including Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and Sambalpur. Tests conducted in March 2023 across 1,905 locations found 16 key parameters — including turbidity, total hardness, and bacterial contamination — exceeding permissible limits at several sites. The audit, covering schemes under AMRUT and BASUDHA, noted that despite spending ₹2,808.27 crore, several projects remained incomplete, leaving large sections of the population without safe drinking water.

Though officially all the villages in the state are electrified, there is a lot if mismatch with the ground reality following which the energy department is conducting surveys to find out unelectrified households.

To address these gaps, Mission PoWaR is proposed to function in mission mode, with a dedicated team led by a senior officer and supported by a separate secretariat. The plan envisages coordinated implementation involving the departments of Rural Development, Energy, and Drinking Water & Sanitation.

Under the blueprint, all district collectors will be directed to submit detailed status reports on road connectivity, drinking water supply, and electricity coverage by the end of November. The reports will help map unconnected villages and estimate the required budget and resources. A uniform reporting format will be issued to ensure consistency across districts.

Once the data is compiled, the government plans to convene a joint review meeting with collectors and engineers from key departments to assign responsibilities and finalize targets. Officials said the mission would operate on the guiding principles of “Speed, Scale, and Standard”, and may involve pooling funds from multiple schemes and, if necessary, forming a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for streamlined implementation.

“The idea is to deliver these three basic amenities — power, water, and roads — to every household in a time-bound and accountable manner,” a senior official involved in the planning said.