Paperman Media (Bhubaneswar) - The state level World Water Day celebration 2026 was held today at the local Lok Seva Bhawan Convention Center.
Chief Minister Shri Mohan Charan Majhi attended the event as the chief guest and laid the foundation stone and dedicated it to the people of various water resource projects.
It is worth noting that today the Chief Minister launched valuable projects worth a total of Rs. 2612 crore. Out of these, 17 projects worth Rs 2292 crore have been laid and a total of 124 projects worth Rs 320 crore have been inaugurated.
Even a drop of water is precious to many people in the world. Therefore, asking everyone to take a pledge to ensure that not a single drop of water is wasted, the Chief Minister said that on World Water Day, the message of not wasting water should reach every home.
Children should be taught to save water from school itself because they are the water soldiers of the future. The Chief Minister started his speech with the message that we should not waste water and save rainwater to keep the soil moist.
Terming Prime Minister's Jal Jeevan Mission as a revolutionary scheme, the Chief Minister said that he would resolve to eliminate water scarcity by providing clean drinking water through pipes to every household.
Through Jal Shakti Abhiyan, water conservation is being made a national priority and through Catch the Rain, women are being trained to test and manage water quality. As a result, we will not leave any section behind in the field of water services and affordable water will be available to all.
Our goal is to eliminate gender inequality in water management and strengthen the rural economy. Water security is the main condition for building a prosperous and developed Odisha. For this, women and self-help groups have been engaged as water partners. Therefore, the Chief Minister urged all the people of the state to come forward for water security based on the theme of this year's World Water Day, 'Water and Gender'.
Talking about various water schemes in the state, the Chief Minister said that water scarcity affects the poor the most. Therefore, providing clean water to the people at the last rung of the society is a special part of our Antyayoday policy. Our government is working to provide clean water to every unreached village and backward areas under Mission Power. In the agriculture sector, we are promoting the policy of more crops per drop of water. Odisha has taken its place as the leading state in the country in tree plantation through the ‘Ek Peed Ma Ke Naam’ campaign. Our state has also prepared a balanced water policy so that there is no conflict over water in the coming days.
The Chief Minister said that the main goal of the government is to increase the crop intensity of Odisha for irrigation facilities to 220 percent by 2036 and 250 percent by 2047 in the coming days. Apart from this, many recharge shafts have been completed under the Chetty Yojana and Arua Yojana for groundwater recharge.
The success of the Canal Lining System, Rehabilitation Program, Lower Suktel Water Irrigation Project and Kusumi Smart Irrigation Project is an encouraging indicator in our 21-month implementation and additional irrigation has been provided in about 220,000 hectares of land through various irrigation schemes, he said.
He added that the need of the hour is to increase the availability of clean drinking water and increase the availability of clean drinking water.
Therefore, water security is very important to meet the increasing demand from various sectors through Odisha Vision Document 2036 and 2047.
Therefore, let us all resolve that only through equal participation of men and women in water management can we bring about real change in the society. Let us love water with all our heart and work for its protection.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister inaugurated the Child Care Center 'Kaliki' at Rajiv Bhawan and launched the AI-powered citizen feedback system 'Bindu' Chatbot. Along with this, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Water Resources Department with the Central Water Commission and a coffee table book 'Sujala' and a river map were also released.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Chief Minister Shri Kanak Bardhan Singh Deo requested the Chief Minister that in places where lower level bridges are being demolished and higher height barrages are being constructed, the old low level bridges should not be demolished and gates should be installed on them and used for water conservation. The Chief Minister directed the departmental officers to study this proposal and submit a report.
Before the event, the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister inaugurated the photo exhibition of the Water Resources Department. Chief Secretary Mrs. Anu Garg, Principal Secretary of the Water Resources Department Mrs. Shubha Sharma, and Senior Engineer of the Water Resources Department Shri Lingaraj Gowda were prominently present at the event.
