BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday sanctioned Rs 423.87 crore for 37 urban local bodies (ULBs) in 10 districts under the state-funded flagship scheme Mukhya Mantri Karma Tatpara Abhiyan (MUKTA) for 2023-24.
The districts covered in the first phase are Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Khurda, Puri and Nayagarh. The ULBs of all 30 districts of the state will be covered in the next two phases.
MUKTA was launched by the chief minister on April 18, 2020, with the objective of creating rapid mass employment opportunities for urban poor, informal and migrant labourers rendered unemployed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme was launched for addressing the need for the creation of climate-resilient, cost-effective sustainable and replicable community assets by implementing labour-intensive public works across 115 ULBs.
It is a community-driven scheme tailor-made for community-based organisations (CBOs) such as women's self-help groups (SHGs) and slum dwellers associations (SDAs). According to the chief minister’s office (CMO), these 37 ULBs have developed ward-wise feasible annual action plans under MUKTA through a participatory process involving local citizens and key stakeholders.
All the projects are demand-driven, technically feasible and environmentally sustainable projects. All these projects will be executed directly by Mission Shakti groups as the implementing agency. The projects approved under MUKTA include the creation of civic amenities like a mini park, open-air gymnasium, child play station, playground, walking track, vending zones, open space development, water body development, construction of multi-purpose community centres, wall painting, city beautification and other labour-oriented works.