The fifth board meeting of the Keonjhar District Mineral Foundation (DMF) was held here where new development projects were approved for implementation in the mining affected areas.
According to reports, the DMF which is yet to be registered as a trust as per the Central Government guidelines has collected Rs 1100, 48,96, 787 by end of August from operating mines in the district but has been able to utilize only Rs 36.9 lakh so far. The board has approved Rs 381.30 crore for 439 projects but slow progress of work has left a major part of the funds unspent.
On an average, about Rs 4 to 5 crore is collected daily by the DMF. The members have granted Rs 326 crore for infrastructure development of a new Government medical college at Keonjhar, in addition to Rs 55 crore approved earlier. The board had approved Rs 16 crore for setting up a driving school on the town outskirts near Bodapalsa village a year back but no progress was noticed. Hence, the members decided to assign the work to a new agency, instead of the present one.
Similarly, Rs 12, 32, 50,000 for 140 projects to develop infrastructure in different Government schools approved by the foundation last year is yet to be spent.
The members expressed their dissatisfaction as they learnt that even the plan and estimate of many such proposals approved earlier have not been prepared yet. 233 mining affected villages in Joda, Jhumpura, Banspal, Harichandanpur and Hatadihi blocks were included in the DMF working area but after a fresh survey, 263 new villages in the mines periphery were added increasing the number to 495 villages.
New proposals to develop health services in the District Headquarters Hospital and subdivision level hospitals were approved in the meeting. lack of vision planning for the district, non involvement of peoples’ forum and no public participation have been the hindrance behind proper and systematic utilisation of the DMF funds for the district’s development, it is alleged. Political leaders and Government officials, who are members of the DMF, attended the meeting.