Puri (Reporters Today Bureau): Puri became the first city in India to provide 24×7 Drink-From-Tap quality water (ISO: 10500) for 24 hours with 100 percent metered household connections.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday inaugurated ‘Sujal-Drink From Tap Mission’ through virtual mode.

Under this project, 2.5 lakh people of Puri will have access to pure drinking water 24 hours a day. It will also get rid of the usage of 3 crore plastic bottles avoiding 400 metric tonnes of plastic waste. To discourage the use of plastic water bottles, drinking water fountains will be installed in public places.

The initiative has been launched under the ‘Jalsathi’ program by partnering with women self-help groups (SHGs) of Mission Shakti in community-led water supply management.

With this, Puri also joined the league of cities like London, New York, and Singapore.