Bhubaneswar, Jan 28: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed the officials of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) & Scheduled Caste (SC) Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare department to expedite implementation of welfare schemes meant for communities.
He, however, expressed his displeasure over the tardy construction of hostels for ST and SC students as only 2020 of the 2850 hostels sanctioned by the state government to provide boarding facilities to the students, have been completed so far.
He said that the PA ITDAs and District Welfare Officers (DWOs) of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada, Sundergarh, Nuapada and Nabarangpur districts have not adhered to the timeline for completion of the remaining hostels and directed them to ensure construction of these hostels by March 3.
Patnaik asked the Department Secretary to submit the status report in the first week of April to him along with the names of officers who have failed to achieve the target date.
Referring to the new scheme Anwesha launched by the state government in December 21 last year to provide quality education to ST&SC students during the current academic session, the chief minister asked the department to give specific targets to each district and monitor its implementation regularly.
Talking about the safety and security of student boarders in the hostels especially the girl students, Patnaik said the state government has sanctioned 3000 posts of matrons and 336 posts of ANMs for these schools. He asked the department officials to fill up these posts within a definite time frame.
Reviewing the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), the chief minister observed that there is a need to dispose of all the pending claims in a time-bound manner. The districts like Mayurbhanj, Sundergarh, Rayagada, Nuapada and Koraput need to improve their performance as large number of claims are pending for disposal in these districts, he pointed out.
Maintaining that the ‘Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups’ (PVTGs) need special attention, he said the state government is committed to provide 100% coverage of pension, housing and other social security schemes for welfare of the PVTG households.
He also laid emphasis on judicious use of the funds under Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) and grants under the Article 275 (1) of the Constitution of India and State Plan funds for filling up the gaps for the welfare of the tribal communities
