BHUBANESWAR: The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee on Tuesday reviewed the status of projects implemented in mining affected districts from funds deposited in Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC).
A five-member team of the CEC headed by PV Jayakrishnan took a sector and project-wise review of the progress with Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy at a high level meeting here before embarking on a field tour to mineral rich Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts.
“We apprised the CEC about the details of works undertaken and their progress till date. The committee will visit Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar to examine the works we have undertaken and those that have been proposed. The CEC team will submit a report about their findings to the Supreme Court,” said Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Secretary Deoranjan Singh after the meeting.
OMBADC is a special purpose vehicle formed by Odisha Government in April, 2014 following a Supreme Court order to carry out development activities in mining affected areas of the State.
In Phase-I, 691 villages under 121 panchayats in 29 blocks of Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Koraput, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts have been covered. Around `869 crore allotted to the State under CAMPA funding is being utilised for drinking water supply, housing, skill development, farm and social forestry works.
OMBADC CEO Uma Nanaduri told the CEC team that 29,829 housing units, 244 drinking water projects and skill development for 200 ST and SC youths have been taken up. Besides, block, avenue and urban plantation, seedling distribution, assisted natural regeneration of degraded forest and soil moisture conservation projects have also been taken up. Around `860 crore has been released against these projects so far, she added.
In the second phase of OMBADC, around `16,000 crore is available with the State. The Oversight Authority constituted under Justice AK Patnaik has sanctioned 15 projects in seven sectors estimated at around `10,000 crore. The major sectors are drinking water, education, health, livelihood, rural connectivity, environmental protection, pollution control and water conservation. The projects under Phase-II are in the first stage of implementation, Naduri said.
After the meeting, the CEC team proceeded to Keonjhar where it will visit the project sites on Wednesday. The next day, the team will proceed to Mayurbhanj. The committee members are also likely to visit Similipal Tiger Reserve on November 1.