In its bid to implement Sunabeda Area Development Plan worth Rs 239 crore on the line of the Saranda Development Plan as suggested by the Centre, State Government has set up a Sunabeda Area Development Agency (SADA). The agency would execute welfare projects.
The Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Development (SSD) department, which has been identified as the nodal department for the execution of the Sunabeda Area Development Plan, has proposed 11 different sectoral interventions. These include safe drinking water, sanitation, improved health service, women and child development, quality education, improved infrastructure with all-weather road connectivity, electricity and irrigation facilities.
The proposed plan would be implemented using a convergence approach for making the programme successful and focus will also be on a single window service delivery mechanism.
An estimated `239.29 crore, including the project management cost, will be spent over five years. "The agency to be manned in a professional manner for effective planning, implementation and monitoring will be headquartered at Komna," an official of the department said.
The plan activities will cover four blocks, 12 gram panchayats and 86 villages in Sunabeda area of Nuapada district. The agency having greater autonomy would act as a single window service delivery institution. This was decided at a high-level meeting held to explore the possibility of setting up solar energy based power supply projects in remote villages in the project area.