A total number of 12,649 projects estimated around Rs 8 ,074 crore have been undertaken under the District Mineral Fund (DMF) in various districts by end of July, 2019. This was known from a high-level review committee held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy in here on Tuesday.
Reviewing the progress of the projects, Tripathy directed the concerned departments to prepare a five- year perspective action plan indicating the projects under DMF and advise the district trusts to prioritise the works as per their local need.
Development Commissio-ner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra advised the departments to identify the critical gaps in the ongoing programmes and plans and reflect those in the perspective plan.
Further, Chief Secretary Tripathy directed the departments of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, Rural Development, Water Resources and Works to deploy more technical manpower at the ground level through outsourcing for expeditious implementation of the projects.
It may be pertinent here to mention that majority of the projects sanctioned under DMF are within the orbit of these departments.
The Chief Secretary directed to enhance the financial sanctioning power of the Superintending Engineers from Rs 4 crore to Rs 10 crore for quick sanction of the projects.
It was decided in the meeting that the progress of the projects at ground level would be regularly reviewed over video conferencing with the Collectors in each month. The Chief Secretary asked the Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of the departments having DMF projects to take a meeting of the district level officers of their respective departments and orient them towards timely completion of the projects.
Tripathy said the district level officers including the departmental officers should have a clear cut vision of the projects.
The departments were advised to keep a tab on the projects for avoiding any possible duplication of allocations and maximise their outcomes.
District-wise review of the programmes showed that Angul, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar and Sundargarh are the top five districts in the matters of DMF collection and allocation.
Out of total 12, 649 projects in different districts, these five districts have 11,126 projects.
Angul district has 2,918 projects estimated around Rs 1,097 crore, Jajpur has 2,691 projects of worth Rs 1,125 crore, Jharsuguda has 638 projects of worth Rs 1,125 crore, Keonjhar has 854 projects worth Rs 2,488 crore and Sundargarh has 4,025 projects estimated around Rs 2 025 crore.
