Odisha cabinet approves land grant policy for Bhubaneswar

The Odisha cabinet Saturday approved 12 proposals, including the land grant policy 2015, for allotment of government land in Bhubaneswar in order to ensure comprehensive development of the city.

The policy will facilitate creation of essential infrastructure and amenities, promote the ambience of the city and balance the interests of different organisations and individuals in need of land in the city, chief secretary G.C. Pati told reporters here.

The policy will look into the land required for housing by statutory authorities like Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB) and other bodies. Land carved out into suitable sizes in the capital city for residential, commercial and institutional purposes will be given through auction, said Pati.

The cabinet also agreed to have a Rs 100-crore corpus fund for pre-positioning of fertilisers in the state to provide it to farmers during the Kharif and Rabi seasons.

"The major stumbling block in improving fertiliser consumption is the availability of fertilisers at the right time and right place. Odisha State Co-operative Marketing Federation (OSCMF) and Odisha Agro Industries Corporation (OAIC) will be involved in procurement and supply of fertilisers to the farmers through the corpus fund," said Pati.

The corpus fund will be shared on a 75:25 basis by OSCMF and OAIC respectively for pre-positioning of fertilisers within the state.

The chief secretary also said the cabinet gave its nod for creating a corpus fund of Rs 100 crore for pre-positioning quality seed and planting materials by the institutional agencies and supplying them to farmers on time.

State agencies Odisha State Seeds Corporation Ltd (OSSC), OAIC and Odisha State Cashew Development Corporation Ltd (OSCDC) will be involved in this to ensure adequate quantity of seeds and planting material for the farmers.

The cabinet also approved the tender for two mega lift projects cluster to be executed on Indravati reservoir in the state, said Pati.

The tenders have been awarded to L&T ltd through a competitive bidding process. The first lift irrigation project costing Rs 757.80 crore will be executed in Poksara, Jayapatna and Dharmagada blocks of Kalahandi district. The second project will cost Rs 515 crore.