Puri: The state government will soon provide cyclone-resilient houses to the villagers of Krushna Prasad and Brahmagiri blocks who were affected by cyclone Phailin, October 12, 2013.
The state government will provide cyclone-resilient houses to all affected villagers of the two blocks under the Orissa Disaster Recovery Project (ODRP) and a notification in this regard will be issued within a month, said Brahmagiri MLA Sanjay Das Burma at a press conference here, Friday.
Cyclone Phailin had damaged the houses of several thousand villagers in Khushna Prasad and Brahmagiri blocks. The state government had decided to provide cyclone-resilient houses to all affected villagers under the ODRP and launched a survey to identify eligible beneficiaries for the housing scheme.
The survey was supposed to be conducted at 113 villages of Krushna Prasad block and 94 villages in Brahmagiri block. However, the survey could not be done in 24 villages of Brahmagiri due to opposition from certain sections against the organisation of Palli Sabhas for this purpose.
Besides, the supporters of a political party had gheraoed the Brahmagiri tehsil office for 20 days over the issue. Subsequently, the housing project was cancelled altogether.
However, the affected villagers of the two blocks launched an agitation seeking houses under the ODRP.
“The state government has agreed to provide cyclone-resilient houses to altogether 2,869 eligible villagers of Krushna Prasad block and 1,362 eligible villagers of Brahmagiri block. Apart from that, the housing scheme will cover 24 villages of Brahmagiri block, where the survey could not be done over some issues,” Das Burma said.
According to the legislator, people in government service, those filing income-tax returns and those who have received houses under any other scheme will not be included in the ODRP housing programme.
PNN