JAJPUR: The district administration will soon provide concrete houses to Mankidia tribals of Sukinda block. Collector Ranjan Kumar Das said each tribal family will be given 1,742 sq feet of land under Forest Rights Act at Kusumdiha under Ransol gram panchayat of Sukinda block.
Concrete houses will be constructed for the families and Rs 3.99 crore would be spent from the District Mineral Fund (DMF) for the purpose. Every house will have toilet, electricity and pipe water supply.
As many as 87 landless Mankidia families, belonging to a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) reside in thatched houses on forest land at Malharsahi near Kaliapani under Sukinda Chromites valley.
Das said the construction work has been assigned to the Rural Works department and the project would be completed on a war footing.
This apart, a multipurpose community centre of 1,740 sq feet will also be built for them. “Our priority is to ensure houses for all landless tribal families and bring them to the mainstream of the society,” he said.
Odisha is home to 13 PVTGs and Mankidia tribe is one of them.