BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday sanctioned `34.45 crore for 147 panchayats in six blocks of as many districts under the ‘Ama Gaon Ama Bikash’ programme. With this, the programme has till date covered 101 blocks across the State. The Chief Minister sanctioned the amount for as many as 1,419 projects after interacting with block representatives through video conferencing at the Secretariat here.
Of the sanctioned amount, `3.59 crore was earmarked for 141 projects in 21 panchayats of Tarabha block in Subarnapur district while `7.15 crore was approved for 323 projects in 31 panchayats of Basta block in Balasore district. Besides, `8.79 crore for 317 projects in 35 panchayats of Banarpal block in Angul district and `5.25 crore for 262 projects in 20 panchayats of Agalpur block in Balangir district were also sanctioned by Naveen.
The Chief Minister also gave the go-ahead to 126 projects in 18 panchayats of Dharakot block in Ganjam district at a cost of `4.5 crore and approved `5.53 crore for 250 projects in 22 panchayats of Jharigan block of Nabarangpur district.
Dharakot block in Ganjam district is the 100th block to be covered under the ‘Ama Gaon Ama Bikash’ programme, which was started on March 5, the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik. Sources said all blocks will be covered under the programme by the end of August. The Chief Minister has sanctioned a total of `547.74 crore for 21,960 projects under the programme in the last five months.