BHUBANESWAR: The Centre has advised the state to submit proposals to meet additional infrastructure requirement of 10 aspirational districts and ensure mobile connectivity is provided to all uncovered villages by the end of this financial year.
Infrastructural deficit in aspirational districts and progress of some key railway and highway projects of the state were part of the review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) on Wednesday.
While officials attending the review meeting are tightlipped, informed sources said the progress of Khurda Road-Balangir and the third line between Nergundi-Barang and Khurda Road-Vizianagaram with a length of 385 km on the Howrah-Chennai mail line were discussed.
Sources said a total of eight projects were reviewed of which four were concerned with water supply and irrigation, two for expanding National Highways and connectivity and as many for rail connectivity. The projects have a cumulative cost of around Rs 31,000 crore and relate to seven states including Odisha.
The Prime Minister also reviewed mobile connectivity to uncovered villages taken up under universal service obligation fund (USOF). As many 33,573 villages with 24,149 mobile towers are to be covered for saturation of mobile connectivity. The state has more than 4,500 villages that are covered under the scheme.