Bhubaneswar: The state government Friday approved infrastructure projects worth Rs 1,700 crore for mining-affected districts under Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC).
The Oversight Authority headed by Justice AK Patnaik has approved the new projects and expressed satisfaction over the progress of the projects taken under OMBADC fund so far.
The amount will be spent on 24×7 safe drinking water supply projects in 13 urban local bodies in Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts, livelihood projects and procurement of medical equipment for health facilities in Mayurbhnaj district.
Projects related to development of sustainable livelihood in tribal art/craft through cluster model, promotion of tribal culture, upgradation of the centre of excellence and science laboratories, setting up of 150-bed medical college & hospital at Jaipur, procurement of medical equipment for healthcare facilities in Mayurbhanj and integrated watershed management through water harvesting structures have been approved.
Presenting the updates about the projects, OMBADC chief executive officer Uma Nadnduri said 15 projects worth 10,014.33 crore in seven priority sectors have been approved under Phase-I. These are being implemented by 12 departments.
Around 93 per cent of fund released under Phase-I has so far been utilised. These projects are in various phases of completion implementation in 691 villages spreading over 121 GPs in 29 blocks of 8 districts, she said.
In phase-II, Rs 15,587 crore has been received by OMBADC out of which projects worth Rs 12,000 crore has been sanctioned till now.
“I have visited different areas in Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Mayurbhnaj districts and seen that OMBADC projects are moving faster at ground level. I am confident that we can speed up implementation in coming months,” said Justice Patnaik.
Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy directed the departments concerned to enhance the implementation capacity of the projects at ground level with focus on early completion and commissioning.
It was decided at the meeting that OMBADC Cell would be set up at the district level for coordination, follow up, and monitoring of the projects funded by the corporation.
It was further decided that the entire district of Mayurbhnaj would be brought under the purview of OMBADC. The proposal for including mining affected blocks in the adjoining districts like Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Dhenkanal and Angul was also given in-principle approval by the authority.
During the meeting, Patnaik also launched the OMBADC website for putting the activities and projects of the corporation in public domain and getting people’s feedback.