Developmental projects worth over ₹600cr approved for mineral-bearing Odisha districts

Proposals were approved for development of secondary schools, environmental monitoring and sporting activities in urban local bodies of the districts

Local village women labourers busy in the road repairing works under the NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) near Baliyanta village just outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

The Odisha government on Tuesday approved projects worth over ₹600 crore for developmental work in various sectors in mineral-bearing districts of the State.

Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra gave the nod to the projects in a board of directors’ meeting of the Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC), an official release said.

Proposals worth ₹640.65 crore were approved for development of secondary schools, environmental monitoring and sporting activities in urban local bodies of the districts, it said.

OMBADC CEO Uma Nanduri said 889 secondary schools in Angul, Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts were included under the project at an estimated amount of ₹533.4 crore.

The proposal for development of multipurpose indoor stadiums, projected to cost ₹104 crore, for 11 civic bodies in the mining-affected districts were also sanctioned in the meeting, the release said.

The facilities will nurture and promote sporting talent, it said.

Another project worth ₹3.1 crore was sanctioned for the application of information and communication technology (ICT) and data science for development of the environmental information system in the mining areas of Odisha.

It envisages creation of a comprehensive database of periodic environmental information collected from mines through different statutory returns, clearances and compliances.