The State Government on Friday decided to set up a Project Monitoring Unit to supervise the projects being implemented by the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) in 11 districts under its jurisdiction and formulate a guideline for preparation of the WODC projects and expenditure of funds in line with MlAlAD.
This was decided at a high level meeting to review the functioning of the WODC, said its Chairperson Padmini Sekhar Deo. Talking to newsmen, Deo told newsmen that in order to make the WODC more functional, Chief Minister asked to conduct the council’s meeting rotation wise in all the 11 districts under its jurisdiction including Balangir, Baragarh, Boudh, Deograh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Sundargarh and Anugl. The move would help the council know the real progress of various projects being implemented in each district, she said.
Stating that the rate of utilization of council’s funds has been encouraging which is around 81per cent, she said that it was decided at the meeting to formulate a comprehensive guideline in the line of the MlAlAD for preparation of various projects and their implementation.
The Planning and Coordination Department would prepare the proposed guideline. The CM also advised the council to prepare need-based projects in the underdeveloped areas with priority on funding, she said. According to sources, the CM also asked the District Collectors and concerned Revenue Divisional Commissioners (RDCs) to undertake monitoring of the ongoing projects in the WODC districts in regular intervals and ensure that the projects are completed in set time frame. While the concerned District Collectors have been asked to review the progress of the projects on a definite date each month, the RDCs have been told to supervise the implementation of the sanctioned projects in every three months.
The sources said that it was revealed during the review that since inception, the WODC was provided an estimated Rs 883 crore for undertaking inclusive growth in the region.