A district-level meeting to engage NGOs in monitoring and supervision of the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) in the Maoist-affected areas of Nuapada district was held at the DRDA office here on Sunday.
DRDA Project Director Pradip Naik said, “Progress of construction of houses in 12 gram panchayats of the district, which is known as SADA (Sunabeda Area Development Agency), is very slow due to their remote and sensitive location. Thus, we had submitted a proposal to the Panchayati Raj Department for engagement of NGOs and Community Resources Persons (CRPs) for better monitoring and supervision. The department has agreed to engage NGOs.”
“More than 6,000 families have been allocated houses in these 12 gram panchayats, but the human resource in the blocks is limited that creates problem for effective monitoring,” added he.
Five NGOs of the district, PARDA, PRATKSHYA, VIKASH, lOKDRUSTI and CDNT, were selected for engagement. It was decided that the NGOs would identify CRPs at village level. Each CRP would facilitate construction of 25 houses and report to the NGOs on progress regularly.
“On the basis of the success of this partnership between the NGOs and the district administration, we would consider expansion of the experience to other panchayats of the district,” said Naik.
The other officials present at the meeting were the BDOs and ABDOs of Boden, Nuapada and Komna blocks, Executive Officers of SADA panchayats and nodal officers of IAY, District Press Club president Ajit Panda and secretary Tapan Dash were also present.