Bhubaneswar: The cut-off areas of Malkangiri are set to receive an infrastructural boost with the government planning health sub centres, piped water supply, roads and bridges and installation of tube wells to compensate for the decades of alienation.
The recent opening of the Gururpiya bridge over the river by the same name has helped connect the areas and the government has since been mulling taking the fruits of development there. Around 151 villages under 10 gram panchayats still do not have adequate telecommunication penetration, health and other services.
The state government has come up with detailed project guidelines to boost infrastructure in the area that now goes by the moniker Swabhiman Anchal, under the Socio-Economic Transformation and Upliftment (SETU) project for which Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had earlier announced Rs 100 crore.
As per the plans chalked out by the Planning and Convergence Department with the SETU funds, health sub-centres would be opened in six gram panchayats. Four piped water supply projects will be implemented and 100 tube wells will be installed at Badapada and Papermetla. It has also been planned to release around 5 crore fishlings in the Chitrakonda reservoir to benefit the 2000-odd fishermen families.
Besides, seven bridges and roads from Muktipat to Jamuguda and Panspit to Jodamba would be built under the scheme and a 33/11 KV sub-station would be set up at Badapada. This will be implemented as a Special Area Programme through concerned line departments under a new scheme.
The department, which would be the nodal agency for planning and monitoring of the development programmes, is now considering to invest 70 per cent of the funds (Rs 70 crore) for infrastructure work while 30 per cent of the allocated funds would be spent on service delivery and livelihood opportunities.
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