BHUBANESWAR: The Board of Directors of the Odisha Mineral Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) on Wednesday approved six new projects estimated at Rs 1,752 crore. The meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra approved piped water supply scheme for 787 villages in 11 blocks of Mayurbhanj worth Rs 856.87 crore. CEO of the corporation G Rajesh said Rs 250.72 crore was sanctioned for natural farming in 36 blocks of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts and this will benefit 2,49,021 farmers in 216 panchayats.
The other projects approved by the OMBADC board included improving the quality of education in 36 Odisha Adarsh Vidyalayas (Rs 489.53 crore), the establishment of a comprehensive rehabilitation centre for Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts (Rs 106.36 crore), construction of all-weather connectivity for 23 blocks of Keonjhar district (Rs 19.64 crore), infrastructure development in Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University, Mayurbhanj (Rs 29 crore).
Meanwhile, the State has executed 29,829 housing projects worth Rs 402 crore, 215 tap water supply projects costing Rs 618.59 crore, social and farm forestry projects including afforestation and soil and moisture conservation activities worth Rs 56.06 crore and skill development of tribal youths from 691 mining-affected areas of 29 blocks in 8 districts with fund utilisation of Rs 2.04 crore.