Odisha forms Empowered Committee for rurban development

Odisha government today set up a State Level Empowered Committee (SLEC) for the development of rurban areas under the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission(SPMRM)-National Rurban Mission.
The scheme will be implemented soon with the support of both central and state Governments.
Chief Secretary A P Padhi is the chairman of the SLEC, advised prioritising road, pipe water supply, electricity, street lightening, sanitation, health and housing schemes along with establishment of agro-processing units in the rurban areas of the state.
The areas, he said, should be planned and developed in clusters with urban features and facilities.
Secretary to the Panchyati Raj department Kumar Singh said the basic objective of the rurban mission is to stimulate economic development, enhance basic services and create well planned rurban localities in the state.

The Mission, launched by the Ministry of Rural Development, targets at bridging rural urban divide, reducing poverty through enhanced income generating activities, development of small and medium enterprises and attracting investment in rural areas.

The meeting decided that the mission will be implemented through a 3-tier structure in the state, an official said adding these are Cluster Development and Management Unit (CDMU) at cluster level, District Project Monitoring Unit (DPMU) under the chairmanship of Collector and State Level Empowered Committee (SPMU) under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary.
The Panchayati Raj department will be the State Nodal Agency (SNA) for the Mission. The Director, NRLM (National Rural Livelihood Mission) Pranab Jyoti Nath would be State Mission Leader for monitoring and supervision of SPMRM.

IIT, Kharagpur, will be the State Technical Support Agency (STSA) for preparation of action plans, project reports and help implementation of the scheme, the officials said.
Secretary Panchayati Raj Singh said rurban cluster will be a unit of geographically contiguous villages with a population of about 25,000 to 50,000 in plain and coastal areas. In tribal, hilly and desert areas the cluster will consist of contiguous villages with a population of 5,000 to 15,000."
Nath said that it has been decided to cover seven clusters including 5 from non-tribal and 2 from tribal areas in the first phase.
The Mission will cover other areas of the state in a phased manner. Integrated Action Plans will be prepared for each cluster, Nath said adding the fund for the projects will be mobilized through convergence of various central and state sector schemes and critical gap fund from National Rurban Mission.