BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to create corpus fund of ` one crore each for KBK and KBK plus districts to improve health services in tribal and backward regions of Odisha.
The corpus fund will be created for KBK districts Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Balangir, Subarnapur, Kalahandi and Nuapada and KBK plus districts Gajapati, Kandhamal and Boudh.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting presided by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik where he reviewed implementation of development projects in Nabarangpur district.
It was decided that more doctors will be appointed to improve health services in the district where a majority of posts in the hospitals is vacant. A special drive will be launched in Nabarangpur and Malkangiri districts to fill up vacancies of doctors and other posts in primary health centres (PHCs).
As lack of accommodation is one of the main problems behind large scale vacancies in the posts of doctor, it was decided to construct quarters for them in the tribal dominated districts. Besides, blood banks will be set up in all block headquarters.
The State Government decided to open a degree college at the district headquarters town to provide facilities of higher education to local tribal youths. Besides, vacant siksha sahayak posts will be filled up to tackle vacancies of teachers in primary schools in the district.
The Chief Minister directed the Energy Department to ensure power supply to all villages in the district by 2019. He said PHCs and hostels should be provided power on priority. A decision was also taken to fully exploit the potential in horticulture sector.
Official sources said 214 road projects were implemented by Rural Development Department in the district to improve communication facilities. Out of this, 175 road projects have been completed while the rest are under construction.
The Chief Minister also reviewed implementation of irrigation projects and construction of houses for the rural poor. Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan had recently visited Nabarangpur district to take stock of execution of different projects.