Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on mining Tuesday reviewed development projects undertaken in mining areas, as per the order of the apex court.
A four-member panel under the chairmanship of PV Jayakrishnan reviewed the status of projects undertaken in eight mineral bearing districts under Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC). The eight districts are Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Koraput, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh.
Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OMBADC Uma Nanduri and Panchayati Raj secretary DK Singh were present in the meeting held here Tuesday.
Taking a sector and project-wise review of the progress, the members of the Committee expressed satisfaction on the type of projects undertaken as per guidelines of the Supreme Court, said an official.
Under Phase-I, around Rs 869 crore was allotted for execution of various projects in 691 villages spreading over 121 panchayats in 29 blocks of the eight districts from CAMPA fund.
Drinking water, housing, skill development, farm forestry and social forestry works are the major projects undertaken with this fund.
CEO of the corporation Uma Nanaduri stated that 29,829 housing units, 244 drinking water projects and skill development for 200 ST/SC youths had been taken up. Around Rs 860 crore has so far been released against these projects, she said.
Under Phase-II, around Rs 16,000 crore of OMBADC is available with the state. Against this the Oversight Authority constituted under Justice AK Patnaik has sanctioned a total number of 15 projects in seven sectors estimated around Rs 10,000 crore, said DK Singh.
The major sectors include drinking water, education, health, livelihood, rural connectivity, environment protection & pollution control, water conservation and soil & moisture conservation. The projects under Phase-II are in first stage of implementation, he said.
He added that Justice Patnaik will be visiting the state again and during that time projects for the remaining amount will be sanctioned.
The CEC would make field visits in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts to see the actual state of the projects at the ground level. They would visit different places up to November 2 and on their return would submit their report to the Supreme Court.