Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on 10 August, 2025 inaugurated the Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) project at Indian Rare Earths’s (IREL) desalination plant in Matikhal, Chatrapur in Ganjam district of Odisha.

The unit will convert seawater into potable water for nearby villages, addressing Ganjam district’s chronic drinking water scarcity caused by saline groundwater and limited freshwater resources. Minister Pradhan said the project, using indigenous technology developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at a cost of Rs 160 crore, marks a key milestone in water conservation. MPs Anita Subhadarshini and Pradeep Panigrahy attended the event.

In the first phase, water will be supplied to Matikhal and Aryapalli at just 11 paisa per litre. He noted this is likely Odisha’s first facility to transform seawater into drinking water, drawing parallels to large-scale desalination in Israel.

IREL, a key strategic sector PSU, has been engaged in rare earth development for over four decades.