Work begun for people's amenities in mining hit areas

Odisha government has started the process for construction of piped drinking water supply projects in 523 villages of eight districts affected by mining operations.
The Odisha Mineral Bearing Area Development Corporation (OMBADC) funds, a special purpose vehicle (SPV), has already released Rs 243 crore has in the first phase, said Rural Development secretary M S Padhi today.
Odisha Chief Secretary A P Padhi has directed the officials to complete the tender process by July end.
This apart, the state government has decided to construct houses in 543 villages in the first phase and funds will be sanctioned per house on the basis of current growth rate, an official said.

While an amount of Rs 1.20 lakh will be provided per house in plain areas and Rs 1.25 lakh will be provided per house in hilly areas, said Panchayatiraj secretary Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh adding around 50,000 houses will be constructed in the mining affected villages.
The chief secretary directed to cover the landless families under house distribution project on a priority basis by providing them homestead land under the Vasundhra scheme.

Each landless family will be provided 4 decimals of homestead land, officials said adding project proposals for providing long-term training to 200 ST/SC children were also approved at the meeting.

Around 1.46 lakh will be spent for the training per head, they said.
OMBADC General Manager Subash Chandra Swain said Rs 150 crore for rural housing, Rs 50 crore for water supply and Rs 20 crore for farm forestry has been provided to the concerned departments from the company's corpus.
The chief secretary directed the SPV to hold a meeting of the board of directors at least once in every three months for monitoring the work.