BASUDHA (Buxi Jagabandhu Assured Water Supply to Habitations), Odisha

What is the BASUDHA scheme?

BASUDHA: Buxi Jagabandhu Assured Water Supply to Habitations, is the Government of Odisha's own drinking water programme. BASUDHA pays for building and extending piped water supply systems so that habitations that depend on tube wells, hand pumps or unprotected wells get assured, treated water instead.

The scheme is named after Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar, who led the Paika Rebellion of 1817. The Odisha Economic Survey also expands the acronym as Buxi Jagabandhu Assured Drinking Water to All Habitations, and both forms appear in official documents.

BASUDHA is not a single project. It is a state funding line that sits alongside the centrally sponsored Jal Jeevan Mission, the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) of NABARD, the Odisha Mineral Bearing Area Development Corporation (OMBADC) fund and the District Mineral Foundation (DMF). The Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department lists BASUDHA under its Rural Water Supply schemes, and the Housing & Urban Development Department uses the same brand for universal urban water supply coverage.

Who does BASUDHA cover?

Rural side. BASUDHA covers rural habitations in Odisha that do not yet have an assured piped water supply. The unit of coverage is the habitation, not the individual family. The Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department publishes a habitation-wise drinking water supply status so a village can check where it stands.

Urban side. On 20 November 2017 the Chief Minister of Odisha launched universal coverage of water supply to all urban local bodies of the state, including slums and bastis, styled as "Water for All" under BASUDHA. The Odisha Economic Survey records that as on 31 March 2019, of 2,032 wards across 114 urban local bodies, 1,463 wards were fully covered, 530 partially covered and 39 yet to be covered by piped water supply. The Housing & Urban Development Department's plan was phased investment of about Rs 4,380 crore from 2015-16 onwards to deliver at least 70 litres per capita per day, rising to 135 lpcd over 12 years, with supply duration progressively moving towards 24x7.

Households do not apply and cannot apply. BASUDHA is an infrastructure programme. There is no application form, no income test, no caste criterion and no cash transfer. A family becomes a beneficiary when a scheme is commissioned in its habitation or ward and it then takes a household tap connection.

Who is not eligible under BASUDHA

• Individuals seeking a cash benefit are not eligible. BASUDHA funds pipes, pumps, treatment plants and reservoirs, not payments to people.
• Contractors and firms cannot apply as beneficiaries. They participate only through the tender process on the Odisha e-procurement portal.
• A household in a habitation already fully covered by a commissioned piped water supply scheme is not a fresh BASUDHA target; its issue is operation and maintenance, handled by the local division.

How much has Odisha spent on BASUDHA?

Because BASUDHA is a project-funding line, the annual allocation moves with the pipeline of works rather than with a fixed entitlement. Figures announced in successive Odisha Budget speeches:

In 2021-22 the state announced a total investment of more than Rs 12,000 crore for piped drinking water from budget and off-budget sources, and in 2023-24 more than Rs 13,215 crore, of which BASUDHA was one component along with Rs 269 crore for operation and maintenance of the water supply system.

Odisha also conceptualised 207 mega piped water supply projects worth Rs 36,455 crore, and committed to covering all 691 directly affected villages in 8 mineral-bearing districts with piped water at an estimated Rs 2,127 crore under OMBADC funds and Rs 588 crore under DMF.

For the 2026-27 year the Finance Minister stated that Odisha has embarked on a plan to provide piped water supply and safe drinking water to all rural households by the end of March 2027, and announced a new scheme, "State Support for Rural Piped Water Supply Projects", to complete incomplete projects, cover left-out habitations and address water quality problems.

How to get water supply under BASUDHA

Because there is no individual beneficiary form, the practical route runs through your habitation and your local engineering division.

1. Check the coverage status of your habitation. The Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department publishes habitation-wise drinking water supply status under the Rural Water Supply section at panchayat.odisha.gov.in. This tells you whether your habitation is recorded as covered, partially covered or uncovered.
2. Raise the demand through the Gram Panchayat. If your habitation is uncovered or has a failed scheme, get the matter placed before the Palli Sabha and Gram Sabha and have a resolution passed. Habitation-level demand is what feeds into the annual action plan.
3. Submit the resolution to the Block Development Officer and the local RWSS sub-division. The Junior Engineer and Assistant Executive Engineer of the Rural Water Supply & Sanitation sub-division prepare estimates for the block and forward them to the Executive Engineer at the district level.
4. Apply for a household tap connection once the scheme is commissioned. Take proof of residence and, usually, your Aadhaar card to the RWSS sub-division office or to the Gram Panchayat office, whichever is handling connections for your scheme. In urban areas, apply to the water supply section of your municipality or municipal corporation.
5. For an urban ward, route the demand through your ward councillor to the urban local body, which prepares its water supply proposals under the "Water for All" component.

How to check the status of a water supply scheme

Ask the Junior Engineer of the RWSS sub-division for the scheme number and its physical progress; this is the fastest and most reliable route. The department's Rural Water Supply pages carry summary documents on coverage of habitations, spot sources, piped water supply and habitation status that let you verify what is recorded against your village.

For works under tender, the Odisha e-procurement portal at tendersodisha.gov.in shows the tender, the award and the contract value for a named package, which is often the clearest public evidence that a project in your area has actually started.

Common reasons a habitation stays uncovered

• No viable water source nearby. Habitations in hilly or forested terrain often wait for a mega piped water supply project drawing from a distant river rather than a local scheme.
• Water quality failure. Fluoride, iron, salinity or nitrate contamination changes the design and cost, and pushes the habitation into a treatment-based scheme.
• Land not available for the overhead tank, sump or treatment unit, which is a common local stalling point.
• Incomplete or abandoned contract. The 2026-27 Budget explicitly created a new state scheme to fund incomplete projects and left-out habitations, which is an official acknowledgement that this happens.
• Scheme commissioned but not functional — a habitation can appear as "covered" in records while the tap is dry because of pump failure, power supply or unpaid operation and maintenance.

The last case is the most frustrating for readers and the most fixable: it is an operation-and-maintenance complaint, not a coverage complaint, and it goes to the same sub-division.

Where to raise a BASUDHA grievance

• Rural: Junior Engineer or Assistant Executive Engineer of the RWSS sub-division for your block, escalating to the Executive Engineer, RWSS at the district level, and then to the Collector.
• Urban: the water supply section of your municipality or municipal corporation, escalating to the Executive Officer or Municipal Commissioner.
• State level: the Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department at panchayat.odisha.gov.in, which publishes departmental and field contact directories, and the Housing & Urban Development Department for urban schemes.
• Odisha's common public grievance platform Jansunani at janasunani.odisha.gov.in accepts complaints against state departments.

No fee is payable to be included in a BASUDHA scheme. Charges, where they apply, are the notified household tap connection and water tariff levied by the RWSS division, Gram Panchayat or urban local body: never a payment to an individual official or agent.