Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today asked officials to complete the construction of hostels made for Dalit and tribal students by March 31.
Patnaik issued such direction while reviewing progress of welfare schemes under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare department.
While expressing displeasure over non-completion of hostel construction, Patnaik asked the department Secretary to submit the status report in the first week of April along with the names of officers who have failed to achieve the target date.
Out of a total of 2,850 hostels sanctioned by the state government to provide boarding facilities to the students, only 2,020 have been completed so far.
The Project Administrator ITDAs and District Welfare Officers (DWOs) of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada, Sundergarh, Nuapada and Nabarangpur districts have not conformed to the timeline for completion of the remaining hostels, the Secretary informed Pathnaik.
Referring to the new scheme 'Anwesha' launched by the state on 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.
On the safety and security of student boarders in the hostels especially the girls, Patnaik said the state government has sanctioned 3,000 posts of matrons and 336 posts of ANMs for these schools.
He asked the department officials to fill up these posts within a specific time-frame.
While 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.
Patnaik said the state government is committed to provide 100 per cent coverage of pension, housing and other social security schemes for welfare of the PVTG households.
