The Oversight Authority headed by Justice AK Patnaik has expressed satisfaction over the progress of the projects under Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) being undertaken in the State.
Reviewing the projects here, Justice Patnaik said, “I have visited different areas in Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Mayurbhnaj districts at different points of time and have seen that OMBADC projects are moving fast at the ground level.”
He said he is confident that the projects would be expedited further in coming months.
Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy directed concerned departments to enhance the implementation capacity at ground level with focus on early completion and commissioning of the projects.
New projects worth around Rs 1,700 crore were considered and sanctioned at the meeting.
It was decided that OMBADC cells would be set up at the district level for coordination, follow up, and monitoring of the projects funded by the corporation. An OMBADC website was launched.
It was further decided that the entire district of Mayurbhnaj would be brought under the preview of the OMBADC. The proposal for including mining affected blocks in the adjoining districts like Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Dhenkanal and Angul was also given in-principle approval in the meeting.
So far, 15 projects worth 10,014.33 crore in seven priority sectors have been approved. The projects are now in various phases of completion under 12 departments. The major sectors of the allocation of funds include supply of safe drinking water, education and skill development, health services, water conservation, livelihood promotion and promotion of green coverage, CEO Uma Nadnduri.
In phase-II under compensation fund, a total amount of Rs 15,587 crore has been received by the OMBADC out of which Rs 1,143 crore has already been released against the sanctioned projects worth Rs 1700 crore. With today’s sanction, the total worth of projects sanctioned under OMBADC has come around Rs.12,000 crore.