Sambalpur: In an effort to provide employment to migrant workers who returned to Odisha due to lockdown in their working places, the state government has decided to build new Panchayat Bhawans in around 60 villages in Sambalpur district within a year, officials said Friday.
The objective of the initiative is to provide employment to the returnee migrant labourers and rural labourers during the coronavirus pandemic and strengthen their livelihood, they said.
The buildings will be constructed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
There are 138 gram Panchayats in the district. Majority of returnee migrants have the skills relating to construction industry and, hence, the government has decided to construct panchayat bhavans, an official said.
Sobhit Bishi, the Sambalpur coordinator of the MGNREGS, said many villages do not have their own buildings and such bhavans are lying in dilapidated condition in several panchayats.
In many villages, the panchayat offices are operating from the Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras, which had been constructed as annex buildings of panchayat offices and for multiple purposes, Bishi said.
The work of the panchayats have increased manifold in the last few years and they require spacious buildings for their works.
Hence, the new bhawans, which will be permanent assets, will be constructed and it will also generate employment for rural dwellers, according to the official.
Each panchayat bhawan will be constructed at a cost of Rs 20 lakh and 50 per cent of it will be met through the finance commission fund, while the remaining cost will be sourced from the MGNREGA fund, the official said,
Work on the project has already begun in some villages and a target has been set to complete the work within a year, he added.
Agencies