World Bank- assisted project yet to take off

The World Bank assisted Targeted Rural Initiative for Poverty Termination and Infrastructure (TRIPTI) project being implemented by the state Panchayatiraj department is yet to make headway.

The $ 82.4 million project was launched by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on 10 February 2009 and recruitment and selection for posts at various level (state, district, block, cluster) has been completed. But seven months after the programme is yet to take off in real earnest and is expected to gain momentum only towards the end of this year.

Admitting the slow pace of the programme, the state Panchayatiraj minister, Prafulla Samal attributed the delay to the non-release of the funds by the World Bank.

“We are yet to receive the loan from the World Bank for the project. The state government has spent Rs 1 crore mostly on office accommodation and staff training”, Samal told the media on the sidelines of workshop organised by the Panchayatiraj department. He said, Orissa will follow the model adopted by the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh government as it has been highly successful. T Vijay Kumar, chief executive officer (CEO), Society of Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Andhra Pradesh was invited to share his experience in implementation of Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihood project.

The project is currently being implemented in 10 coastal district of the state. These districts are Angul, Balasore, Bhadrakh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh and Puri. Thirty eight poverty stricken blocks, including 1020 Gram Panchayats (Gps) and 8369 villages, are covered under the programme. It aims to enhance the socio-economic status of the poor especially women and disadvantaged groups.

Sources said, the project seeks to target poorest of the poor through social inclusion fund. It provides for flexible credit linkage plan with provision for consumption loan and risk mitigation. During the current fiscal, social assessment process for the poorest of the poor, inclusion of left-out poor in the self help groups (SHGs), gradation and strengthening of the SHGs and federations through various initiatives, skill upgradation programmes for rural youth are proposed to be taken up.