Under the MANTRA project which the MCL is executing in partnership with 'Gram Vikas', the coal major is making available toilets and bathroom facility in 364 households.
The villages for this project were meticulously selected based on select indicators of remoteness, institutional support, demography, socio-economic status, and overall backwardness. The project is being implemented in Panchgaon, Pokharasalhe gram panchayats of Jharsuguda district and Kukramunda and Pumerjore and Khukhandabahal gram panchayats in Sundargarh district.
The project started in Q2 of 2018 has seen completion of toilets and bathrooms in October, 2019. In the second stage, work of piped water supply is under process.
The project is modeled as participatory community mobilization in the form of labour and building material by households. In addition, each household contributes Rs 1,000 towards creating a village corpus fund to support new households coming up in the future. O and M cost is met by mobilization of village committee.
It may be noted that, MCL has signed MoU with Railways for commissioning of toilet blocks in the circulating areas of all 232 railways stations of Odisha. This project is being implemented by RITES and the MCL is financing Rs 58 crore.
