BHUBANESWAR:Even as the State Government has set a target of of completing 20 lakh pucca houses under rural housing schemes by the end of this year, the Panchayati Raj Department was on Wednesday asked to meet the target by October.
Chief Secretary AP Padhi gave the instruction to the Department at a State-level workshop of its field officers including project directors of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs), Block Development Officers (BDOs) and engineers of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS).Inaugurating the workshop, Padhi lauded the efforts of the Department for its achievements in the rural housing and skill development programme in 2017-18.
While 17.71 lakh houses have been constructed in rural areas under different schemes since 2014-15, he asked the department to scale up figure to 20 lakh by October 2018.One of the major poll promises of the ruling BJD to convert all the kuchcha houses to pucca houses by 2019, the State Government has accelerated construction using locally available material with usage of scientific technique developed by Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee.
Padhi also praised the highest level of transparency maintained by the department in implementation of the programme.Padhi also reminded the field staff about his May 5 instruction to all district collectors for finalising the list of beneficiaries under Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY). He asked the department to ensure timely release of installments to the beneficiaries.
Padhi also appreciated the initiatives of the department for providing skill training to a record number of rural youth. Odisha received the Prime Minister’s Award for best State in the country in skill development of rural youth for second year in a row.
The State has successfully trained and ensured employment for a record 95,218 rural youth under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and creating sustainable income source for 53,269 youths.
The two-day works shop will deliberate on the physical and financial progress of various programmes like drinking water supply, rural sanitation, skill training, Rurban Mission, Goapbandhu Gramin Yojana, rural employment under MGNREGS, and e-Governance.