Bhubaneswar: The state government has sanctioned projects worth Rs 8,906 crore under Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) for four districts.
The oversight authority OMBADC headed by justice AK Patnaik, has sanctioned the projects for four districts namely, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur, sources said, Wednesday.
The authority recently conducted a field inspection of the projects taken up under OMBADC and District Mineral Fund (DMF) and expressed its satisfaction.
The sanctioned projects include mega pipe water supply schemes, individual household water supply schemes, modernisation of ITI schools, infrastructure upgradation in health institutions, skill development of youths, water harvesting and recharge of ground water, improvement of water bodies, road connectivity for quick delivery of health services and installation of automatic air quality monitoring systems in the four districts.
The authority also gave a go-ahead with tendering process for completion of the projects within the scheduled time so as to avoid any possibility of cost escalation.
It was further decided to work out the detail project report (DPR) for newly proposed projects within the shortest possible time.
Additional chief secretary, Steel & Mines, RK Sharma said the total mining and mineral transport in Joda and Koida circles are well below the defined limit. He added that for keeping the pollution level below the threshold limit, the state government has been carrying capacity principles in mining activities.
The mineral transport from the state in 2017-18 was around 102 million tonnes against National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) recommendation of 129 million tonnes.
For the year 2018-19, a study conducted by NEERI has recommended transport of around 153 million tonnes of minerals. Sharma assured that the actual mineral transport in 2018-19 would be kept below the recommended limit.
The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) member secretary Debidatta Biswal said as per the data availed through regular automatic air quality monitoring centres at mining and transport points, the pollution level is well below the threshold limit.
“Only at one point of transport junction near Bhadrasahi Chhak the pollution level occasionally goes above the prescribed limit,” he added.