The Union Government has sanctioned 7,465 additional houses for the vulnerable Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) in the State.
According to official sources, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday conveyed that his Ministry has sanctioned these additional special houses under the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) meant for the PTGs like Chakotia, Bhunjia and Dongaria Kandhs. An estimated Rs 41.99 crore has also been released towards construction of the special IAY units. The houses are in addition to the already sanctioned houses under the IAY for the current financial year, he informed.
The Chief Minister in a letter on July 11 had requested Jairam Ramesh for sanction of additional houses for Chakotia, Bhunjia and Dongria Kandh families in the Sunabeda reserve forest area of Nuapada district and Bissamcuttack, Kalayansinghpur and Muniguda blocks of Rayagada district. Ramesh said the Central Government has allocated a total of 1,28,087 IAY houses for Odisha in 2013-14 .