BHUBANESWAR : Faced with mounting criticism over delays in approval and execution of rural infrastructure projects, the Odisha government has made project selection simpler under its flagship ‘Bikashita Gaon, Bikashita Odisha’ (BGBO) initiative, with thrust on creation of durable community assets. The changes come at a time when projects worth over `1,500 crore are pending for approval and execution across districts.
Under the revised guidelines, the government has substituted the existing project selection process with a more participatory, gram sabha-driven mechanism. Each gram sabha will now prepare a needbased list of projects in line with the financial allocation for the financial year concerned.
The nodal officer attending these meetings will immediately forward the project list to the district collector, removing layers of delay at the block level. Collectors will also invite project proposals annually from PRI members, elected representatives and civil society organisations.
Notices seeking such proposals will be displayed at the collectorate, zilla parishad, block and gram panchayat offices, and uploaded on the district website. Commissioner-cum-secretary of PR&DW department, Girish SN said all project proposals from the panchayats must reach the collectors within seven days of publication of the notice.
The government has also restructured the approval mechanism. A district-level committee led by the collectorcum- chief executive officer will be constituted to scrutinise all proposals received from gram sabhas and other stakeholders, assess their admissibility and technical feasibility. In order to address concerns over quality and sustainability of assets, the government has introduced a mandatory defect liability period (DLP) of three years for all projects with an estimated cost exceeding `10 lakh.
The executing agency will be solely responsible for upkeep and maintenance during the DLP, which will begin from the date of completion and handing over of the project. The BGBO scheme was launched as a replacement for the previous BJD government’s ‘Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha’ programme, with an overall outlay of Rs 5,000 crore.
Sources said, while nearly 99 per cent of the Rs 1,000 crore allocation for 2024-25 has been sanctioned, approvals in the current fiscal have been sluggish. Of the Rs 2,000 crore budgeted for 2025-26, projects worth only about Rs 600 crore have so far received approval.
Execution has been even slower, with just around 60 per cent of the sanctioned works completed so far. “Postponements in gram sabha meetings and litigation slowed both approval and onground execution. The revised guideline is expected to expedite stalled proposals, clear bottlenecks and accelerate the creation of quality rural infrastructure,” the secretary told TNIE.