SAMBALPUR: In an initiative aimed at providing long-term security and dignity to children living in childcare institutions, the Sambalpur administration on Thursday distributed record of rights (RoRs) for homestead land to 35 orphans under the Vasundhara Scheme.
The RoRs were distributed during the ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’ programme held at Gangadhar Meher University here. Each beneficiary was allotted four decimals of homestead land at Paramanpur under Maneswar block.
The beneficiaries are inmates of various childcare institutions managed by the district child protection unit (DCPU) under the Women and Child Development department, including Utkal Balashram at Dhankauda, Rukmini Lath Bal Niketan and Dr Isaac Santra Balniketan among others.
The RoRs were handed over to the children in presence of Panchayati Raj Minister Rabi Narayan Naik, Sambalpur MP Dharmendra Pradhan and MLA Jayanarayan Mishra. The initiative is meant to ensure that children without parental support have an asset that can provide them security and stability after they leave childcare institutions.
Benefits under several welfare schemes including Madhubabu Pension Yojana and PM SVANidhi were also distributed to beneficiaries at the event.
Pradhan called for making child nutrition a social movement, noting that around 75,000 children under the age of six in the district receive nutritional support through anganwadi centres. He highlighted the need for effective implementation of welfare schemes and also urged the district administration to bring around 7,500 street vendors in Sambalpur under PM SVANidhi in mission mode.
Sambalpur collector Siddheshwar Baliram Bondar said the administration was pursuing a two-pronged approach of individual empowerment and community infrastructure development. He said work orders under PMAY-Urban were being issued to more than 650 families in Sambalpur Municipal Corporation, with each beneficiary eligible for around `2.75 lakh assistance.
