Bhubaneswar, April 13: In the first of its kind initiative, the Odisha Government has decided to set up of a Centre of Excellence ‘Odisha Water Academy’ at Bhubaneswar, said Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pratap Jena.
The Academy will function as a pioneering training and capacity building institution in the field of water and wastewater service provision. The main objective of the institution is to enhance the quality and service levels in the sector for customer satisfaction and for better health and environment outcomes.
“The establishment of ‘Odisha Water Academy’ is another progressive step in line with the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s vision towards transformative reforms in water and waste water sector in the State,” said Jena.
The Academy will be beneficial to the personnel working under the Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO), Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO), Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board (OWSSB) and other related organisations supporting the sector and services for their capacity development, he added.
The training and capacity building undertaken by the Academy will be for both managers and workers and will include both at induction and in-house stages. It will enable them to remain up-to-date with state-of-the-art, innovative, hi-tech technologies and advanced management skills to run the water and wastewater business in the State more efficiently than before.
The Academy would be registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and would work under the administrative control of WATCO.
It would be managed under its own Memorandum of Association and Rules & Regulations with a Governing Body headed by the Principal Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department-cum-Chairman, WATCO and supported by a professional Training Partner team and world-class professional institutional partnership.
