The Orissa Government is expected to implement 21 drinking water projects with an investment of Rs 271 crore.

The state government has decided to deploy three mobile vans in each of the 314 blocks in the state to repair defunct tube wells and one water tanker to meet any emergency.

The state is expected to renovate big ponds in the rural areas to meet the drinking water demand and finalised a proposal to dig 1,000 tube wells in 103 municipal areas besides deploying 351 tankers to carry drinking water to the water scarcity areas.

To overcome the water crisis in Puri, a Rs 67-crore project was approved to draw water from Bhargabi river. The project is likely to be commissioned within the next three years. It has also been decided to take up the renovation work of the Dakhinpur water reservoir to meet the acute water problem of Berhampur.