Rural connectivity projects worth Rs 4,947 cr approved : Odisha Cabinet

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Cabinet on Wednesday approved projects worth Rs 4,947 crore under four different components of Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana (MMSY) to improve rural road connectivity in the State.

Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena told mediapersons that the Cabinet has approved 15 proposals, including four proposals from Rural Development department for construction of roads and bridges in rural and hilly areas during the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25. The Cabinet has approved an outlay of Rs 1,893 crore for construction of roads to the length of 1,814.92 km during two years (2023-24 to 2024-25) under MMSY-Transferred Road Improvement Programme (TRIP). All ongoing projects under this scheme will also be completed, he said.

Similarly, the government has approved implementation of MMSY-Connecting Unconnected Villages in Difficult Areas (CUVDA) with an outlay of Rs 976 crore. Under the scheme, projects with a length of 361.34 km will be executed during 2023-24 and 2024-25. Bridges where required will be taken up to provide new connectivity or improved connectivity in difficult places of the targeted area, Jena said.

Further, the government has also decided to implement MMSY-Improvement to Existing RD Roads with an outlay of Rs 918 crore during 2023-25. Besides, Rs 1,160 crore was approved for execution of 673.49 km of roads under MMSY- Connecting Missing Road Links (CMRL) during the two years.

The Cabinet has also revised the cost of ABADHA scheme from Rs 3,208 crore to Rs 4,224.22 crore with scheme implementation period from 2017-18 to 2024-25. The State government had launched the ABADHA scheme during 2017-18 to develop Puri into a world class heritage city, to preserve and revitalise the heritage city.

The State Cabinet also approved a new scheme Mukhya Mantri Sampoorna Pushti Yojana (MSPY), which is aimed at transforming nutrition outcomes of the adolescent girls (15-19 years), pregnant women and lactating mothers, malnourished children and severely underweight children of under 6 years of age across the State. The scheme will be implemented over a period of five years with effect from the current financial year 2023-24 with a projected cost of Rs 3,354.40 crore, said the Chief Secretary.

The Cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, recommended the proposal for inclusion of tribal language in the 8th Schedule of Constitution of India, said ST & SC Development Minister Jagannath Saraka. Inclusion of Saora language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India will help in the preservation, promotion, propagation of Saora language and culture, he said. More than 5 lakh Saora speaking indigenous people will be benefited with this decision with no financial implication, he added.