India, March 27 -- The groundwater levels are falling in majority of areas across the state, a data shared by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi revealed in Assembly today.

In a written reply to BJP MLa Tankadhar Tripathy, Majhi presented a data on decrease in groundwater levels across the state in last five years.

As per the data, the state registered fall in groundwater levels during 2020 to 2024. While the ground levels declined by 4.94 metre in 2020, the depletion was 4.91 metre in 2021, 5.22 metre in 2022, 5.51 metre in 2022, 5.47 metre in 2023 and -0.53 metre in 2024.

The rapid groundwater depletion was reported in 23 districts, of total 30 districts in Odisha, the data revealed.

However, the water levels rose in a few coast...