Bhubaneswar: January 10: A total number of 11,434 projects estimated at the cost of Rs.6438. 23 cr have been taken up under District Mineral Fund (DMF) in various districts by end of December, 2018. This was known from a high level review committee held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Sri Aditya Prasad Padhi in secretariat conference hall recently. Reviewing the progress, Sri Padhi directed concerned departments to keep tab of the projects under DMF and tune them with the departmental projects so as to avoid any duplication and augment the outcomes for the people. Development Commissioner Sri Asit Kumar Tripathy asked the departments to provide necessary technical assistance to the districts for early completion of the projects and keep ready more number of projects in the priority sector.
Review showed that a total number of 11434 projects with estimated cost of Rs.6438 cr have been taken up under district mineral foundations of several districts. From among these, 9044 projects are in the high priority sectors like drinking water, education, environment preservation, pollution control, health and sanitation, skill development and livelihood activities. The balance 2378 projects are in other priority sectors like development of physical infrastructure, irrigation, watershed, energy and afforestation etc.
District wise review of the programmes revealed that the districts namely Angul, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Koraput, Mayurbhanj and Rayagada are the Top-Eight districts in the matters of DMF collection and allocation. Out of total 11434 projects, these 8 districts have 11254 projects. Angul district has 2214 number of projects, Jajpur 1875, Jharsuguda 508, Keonjhar 771, Sundargarh 4631, Koraput 801, Mayurbhanj 77 and Rayagada has 377 numbers of projects.
Development Commissioner Sri Asit Kumar Tripathy, Additional Chief Secretary Steel & Mines Sri Raj Kumar Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary Forest & Environment Sri Suresh Chandra Mohapatra along with Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and senior officers of the concerned departments participated in the review.
