Bhanjanagar: The administration has failed to find a suitable place in Kandhamal district to set up a building for the 8th office of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB), even though nine years have passed. Besides, a suitable place for the building of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) unit at Bhanjanagar in Ganjam is yet to be located. Rs 3.5 crore provided for the project three years ago is lying unutilised, a report said.
According to the report, DIG Awinash Kumar recently visited Bhanjanagar and held talks with officials concerned about how expeditious steps can be taken for setting up the ODRAF building. It was in 2012 the state government decided to set up the 8th office of the IRB in Kandhamal district. The IRB office started functioning from a building of the Home department in Phulbani in 2013 and some new staffs were recruited.
A patch of 100-acre land is required for the permanent office of the IRB. Some years ago, the district administration had identified a patch of land for the IRB office in the district, but local people strongly opposed it. As a result, the administration had to abandon the place.
In 2017, the temporary IRB office was shifted to Tanrada near Bhanjanagar. Later officials of the district administration started hunting for land in the fringe areas under Sorada and Bhanjanagar blocks bordering Kandhamal, but it failed to yield any result. Again, the administration has started hunting land in Kandhamal. The IRB has issued a letter to the Kandhamal administration to look for a land for the IRB office building. In future, in case the IRB office is shifted from Tanrada to elsewhere, there is a proposal from the government to run the ODRAF office there.
Notably, the state government had sanctioned Rs 3.50 crore in 2019-20 for the ODRAF building. It was learnt that this project too has been hanging fire due to delay in locating a suitable patch of land for the IRB office.
