BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Thursday constituted a 16-member committee headed by Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari to study the prevailing situation in the disputed Kotia region and submit a detailed report to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
The committee was tasked with reviewing the current scenario in the area, where tensions persist due to governance and development interventions by Andhra Pradesh, despite a Supreme Court directive to maintain status quo.
The committee was formed as per the decision taken at a high-level meeting chaired by CM Majhi on April 22 this year. It was decided to give special attention to Kotia group of villages under Pottangi block of Koraput district through a single agency headed by a special officer either from the OAS or ORS cadre for holistic development of the border region.
Single agency to deliver services in Kotia
The meeting had also decided to frame an administrative mechanism to address the issues faced by the people so that the various departments presently providing different services could come under one umbrella and all the schemes implemented by them can be delivered through a single agency, said an order of the Revenue department.
“There is also a need to propagate/strengthen Odia language, culture, literature, tradition, festivals in the bordering areas in order to create affiliation under ‘Odia Ashmita’,” the order said.
The panel has been entrusted with the responsibility to define a special agency structure, hierarchical and funding pattern, convergence of various schemes and comparative analysis of the schemes offered by the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh for integral development of Kotia gram panchayat and submit a report to the chief minister for appropriate action.
Additional chief secretary, R&DM department is the convener of the committee while additional chief secretary Home, and secretaries of ST&SC Development, Rural Development, Labour and ESI, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare, Law, School and Mass Education, Panchayati Raj, Odia Language, Literature and Culture, and Women and Child Development departments are members. Revenue divisional commissioner (southern division), DIG (southwestern range), collector and SP of Koraput district are the other members of the committee.