Rs 820 cr to be spent on mines' area development

The money will be spent on 523 villages of 29 blocks in 8 districts, which are touted to be affected by the mining activities

The Odisha Mineral Bearing Area Development Corporation (OMBADC) has lined up spending of Rs 820 crore on the areas affected by mining activities. The corporation has so far received Rs 869.42 crore as NPV (net present value) in lieu of forest land diverted for mining purpose.

As per available government data, 523 villages of 29 blocks in 8 districts like Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Koraput Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh have been identified as mining affected villages. Accordingly, the projects for housing, sanitation, pipe water supply and farm forestry have been prepared with a preliminary estimate of Rs 820 crore.

"It has been decided to build pucca houses in all mining affected villages. We have decided to put up 46,000 pucca houses in 523 villages identified by the panchayati raj department. A sum of Rs 350 crore would be spent each on pucca houses and piped water supply, while Rs 20 crore would be spent on plantation activities. The construction of pucca houses in the villages affected by mining is expected to be completed by August next year", said Suresh C Mohapatra, principal secretary (forest & environment), Odisha.

OMBADC has been constituted in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court as per the recommendations of Central Empowered Committee (CEC). The state government had provided Rs one lakh as token share capital at the initial level for formation of the corporation.