Bhubaneswar: In a major step towards solving drinking water scarcity in coastal Odisha, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday inaugurated the state’s first seawater desalination plant at Matikhal near Chhatrapur in Ganjam district.
The ₹135-crore project, developed by Odisha Sands Complex (OSCOM), a unit of Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), will produce 4.5 million litres of potable water daily using reverse osmosis (RO) technology. Of this, 1.5 MLD will cater to OSCOM’s needs, another 1.5 MLD will be supplied to two nearby villages, and the remaining 1.5 MLD will be reserved for emergencies.
Pradhan said the facility would permanently end the hardships caused by high salinity in local groundwater. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) provided the technology, while the Department of Atomic Energy funded the project. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had formally unveiled the plant in March last year from Bhubaneswar.
According to OSCOM chief C.V.R. Murthy, the district administration has built overhead tanks and laid pipelines to ensure household-level supply. Berhampur MP Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy urged IREL to set up a second plant to serve more areas, including Chhatrapur town, where summer shortages from the Rushikulya River are common.
Puri: The Puri Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH)…
New Delhi: The ancient Buddhist site of Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh has been inscribed on…
New Delhi: Days of protests at Delhi's Jantar Mantar over the alleged examination paper leak…
New Delhi: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday resigned from the Union Cabinet amid…
Bhubaneswar: In a bid to strengthen passenger safety during the ongoing Rath Yatra festivities, the…
Bhubaneswar: East Coast Railway (ECoR) has announced a series of special trains for Suna Besha…
