The number of areas taken up under the Rurban Mission in Odisha increased to 10 with five more areas recommended for inclusion by the State level Empowerment Committee (SlEC) held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here.
Chief Secretary Padhi directed to finalize the Integrated Cluster Development Plan (ICAP) for each cluster within this week. Padhi also directed to focus on income generating and sustainable livelihood supporting activities in each cluster.
Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan advised to have GIS based planning of each cluster.
Replying to a media query after the meeting, the Panchayati Raj Secretary said that earlier five clusters were included in the Rurban Mission.
The SlEC recommended for inclusion of five more clusters. The newly recommend areas include Khalikot of Ganjam district, Bhedan of Bargarh district, Umarkote of Nabrangpur district, Kothgarh of Kandhamal district and Tusura of Balangir district. Earlier five areas, namely Samasingha of Jharsuguda district, Banapur of Khorda district Talabasta of Cuttack district, Thakurmunda of Mayurbhanj district and Utkela of Kalahandi district were included under the Rurban Mission.
He added that the committee considered the draft Integrated Cluster Development Plan (ICAP) prepared for earlier included areas. The ICAP envisaged projects worth around Rs 500 crore for these five areas. 70 per cent of the estimated expenditure would be arranged from the convergence of ongoing plans and schemes at the State level and around 30 per cent would be provided by Government of India as grant. The projects like road connectivity, piped water supply, irrigation, solid waste management, digital connectivity, street lights, sanitation projects, income generating livelihood activities, health services and lPG connections etc have been seen as common felt needs in these areas.
These clusters would be developed as Rurban villages preserving the nature and essence of rural community life with urban living facilities. Each cluster will be developed and managed as one planning area.
Panhayati Raj Deputy Secretary Swayam Prava Mohanty is presently acting as nodal officer for preparation of ICAP.
Available data show, Thakurmunda will be developed as a cluster with multiple sustainable livelihood opportunities, Utkela will be developed as a commerce cluster, Talabasta as an agro cluster, Banapur as a tourism cluster and Samasingha will be developed as a village handicraft cluster.
The Chief Secretary directed to create facilities for promotion of livelihood and income generating activities in each of the focus sector in identified clusters.