Housing, skill development and drinking water schemes in mining-affected villages have been undertaken by the Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC). This was discussed at an OMBADC Board of Directors meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary AP Padhi at the State Secretariat here on Thursday. Padhi advised the respective departments to follow the saturation model in addressing housing and drinking water needs at the mining-affected villages. He also directed to prioritise household connection of pipe water at these villages.
Initially, 523 villages were covered with the OMBADC fund. An additional 145 villages were identified, taking the total to 668 villages in 29 blocks of eight districts now.
Panchyati Raj Secretary Deo Ranjan Singh appraised that 26,409 families in the 668 villages of Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Koraput, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts have been identified to be covered under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana in the first phase.
Each family would get the assistance of Rs 1,20,000 in plain areas and Rs 1,30,000 in hilly areas for construction of houses. As of now, 18,538 families have been provided the first instalment and 5,346 the second instalment of the assistance for construction of houses. Rural Development Principal Secretary Madhusudan Padhi said the tender process for drinking water supply projects would be completed within the scheduled time. The villages not covered by drinking water projects of the MCl would be taken up in the first phase. Skill development training for ST and SC youths has also been taken up under the fund. Around Rs 2.4 crore has been provided to the ST & SC Development Department for the purpose. ST & SC Development Secretary Suendra Kumar apprised that training would be a residential intensive programme for two years in demand-based skills for enhancing employability and productivity of tribal youths.