SONEPUR : Even four years after the foundation stone for drinking water project at Sonepur town was laid by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the project is yet to see the light of day.
Although Sonepur town is surrounded on three sides by rivers Mahanadi and Tel, water scarcity is reported from Viveka Nagar, Ramji Nagar, Gokarneswar, Patabhadi, Kulapada, Spinning Mill Chowk, Gridco Colony and Shanti Nagar even during monsoon.
The town, which has a population of about 25,000, requires 3.7 Million Litres Per Day (MLD).
Sources said the drinking water supply in the town was initiated in the late 80’s from Dasmathi Ghat of the Mahanadi river.
However, with the overhead tank failing to meet the water requirement, a new drinking water project was initiated at an estimated cost of Rs five crore and the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone for an overhead tank on February 8, 2013.
It is envisaged to draw water from an intake well at Gokarneswar Ghat and pump it to two overhead tanks for supply after filtration.
First, it took about a year to finalise the tender while the work on the overhead tanks at Patabhadi and MLA Pada is yet to be completed.
To compound the problem, the contractor has left the work halfway.
Similarly, roads have been dug up from Nalin Chowk to Circuit House and Jail Chowk to Patabhadi to lay pipelines of the project.
But the work remains incomplete.