Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 11: One-and-a-half years after the state government had made a request for allocation of fund for Nabakalebar festival in 2015, the Planning Commission of India has asked the state government to submit a detailed proposal.
“Following repeated requests for allocation of special assistance, the commission has recently written to the state government seeking a proposal for the extravaganza,” said a senior official of the planning and coordination department. Only six months are left for the mega event but funds are yet to be allocated, the official rued adding the state government would face difficulty in executing a slew of developmental projects for the
festival.
“We had asked the departments like housing and urban development, culture, works and public health to submit their proposals soon and many of them have submitted the proposals. We will submit the detailed proposal to the Planning Commission very soon,” the official said.
The proposal will include new infrastructure projects, expansion of grid stations and distribution network for supply of electricity, augmentation of road network, establishment of healthcare and trauma care centres and improvement of railway station as well as strengthening of existing services and amenities needed for the crucial event in the ritual calendar of Srimandir.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, May 2013, had written to then Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia seeking special Central assistance of `1,397 crore for the mega event.
During a meeting with PM Narendra Modi in October, the CM had sought his intervention for an early release of the assistance to supplement the efforts of the state government in organising Nabakalebar.
