Odisha govt decides to take up 4 new areas under Rurban mission

Bhubaneswar: The number of areas taken up under Rurban Mission in Odisha increased to 14 with four more areas recommended for inclusion by the state government.

The State Level Empowerment Committee (SLEC) held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi recommended for inclusion of four more areas.

These areas included Puttasingh of Rayagada district, Marichmal of Koraput district, Kuarmunda of Sundargarh district and Raibania of Balasore district.

Considering the proposed micro action plans, Padhi directed to focus on new income generating avenues and sustainable livelihood supporting activities in each cluster.

Padhi further directed to prioritize the projects for enhancing basic service delivery.

The action plans for these areas were designed keeping in view the development of well planned Rurban clusters in future. The investment for development of these 4 areas was estimated around Rs.305.65 crore. This amount would be invested through 4 different ICAP (Integrated Cluster Development Plan) designed for each area.

Panchayati Raj secretary Deoranjan Kumar Singh said that earlier 10 semi-urban and peri-urban areas were included under Rurban Mission in two phases.

The SLEC approved 4 new areas for inclusion in Phase-III of the Mission. These areas included Puttasingh of Rayagada district, Marichmal of Koraput district, Kuarmunda of Sundargarh district and Raibania of Balasore district.

In total, these 4 clusters covered 20-gram panchayat areas. It was envisaged that the projects of worth Rs 230.34 crore would be implemented through the convergence of various programmes and schemes.

Balance amount of around Rs. 75.30 cr would be provided both by Central and State Government on 60:40 sharing basis as Critical Gap Funding (CGF)

The projects for economic infrastructure, skill development, the establishment of agro-processing units,  inter-village connectivity, piped water supply, irrigation, solid waste management, digital connectivity, street lights, sanitation, sustainable livelihood, health services,  citizen service centre, LPG connections etc were found as common felt needs in these areas.

“These clusters would be developed as Rurban villages preserving the nature and essence of rural community life with urban facilities”, said Pranab Jyoti Nath, Mission Leader, Government of Odisha.

He further added that the IACP approved in the SLEC would be sent to Government of India for acceptance.

Swayam Prava Mohanty, State Nodal Officer of the Mission, said, “Each cluster would be developed and managed as one planning area.”