There has been tardy progress in the implementation of projects under the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds in the State.According to the Government of Odisha’s Rural Development Department Annual Activity Report (2020-21) tabled in the State Assembly on Saturday, four important DMF active districts, such as Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Jajpur and Koraput, have made some progress even though they are lagging behind on the project implementation front. Assessments were done on three important infrastructure, road, bridge and building.
It is revealed that out of 222 approved road projects, 94 projects are completed and work is under progress in 91 projects. While out of Rs 56,196 .96 lakh sanctioned, utilisation certificates (UCs) have been given in respect of only Rs 18,817.57 lakh though the spending is to the tune of Rs 23,763 lakh.
Similarly, out of 312 building projects, 233 projects have been completed and work is under progress in 63 projects. By the end of January 2021, out of total Rs 17,817.92 lakh sanctioned for these projects, Rs 10,596.59 lakh was spent and UCs were given only for Rs 9,425.91 lakh.
And out of 39 bridge projects, 17 have been completed and work is under progress in respect of 13. Though Rs 5,867.48 lakh was sanctioned for these projects, UCs were given for Rs 2,866 lakh, while the actual spending was Rs 3,070 lakh.
Data available for these districts reveal that Keonjhar and Jajpur have done significant progress in building road projects. Out of total Rs 13,271.64 lakh sanctioned for Keonjhar, the actual spending was of Rs 5,369.00 lakh but UCs were given for only Rs 3,900.57 lakh.
Of the bridge projects, out of 38 approved projects for Sundargarh, 17 projects were completed within the stipulated time and work was under progress in 12 more projects, but UCs were given for Rs 2,823 lakh whereas actual spending made was of Rs 3,027 lakh.
The total sanctioned amount was Rs 5,789.48 lakh. In Koraput out of 39 approved projects, 17 have been completed and work is under progress in 13 projects. Out of the total Rs 5,867.48 lakh approved cost, only Rs 3,070 lakh was spent and UCs were given only for Rs 2,866 lakh.
The building projects were done in a fairly better way as far as completion of the projects is concerned. Out of 312 sanctioned projects, 233 were completed and work was under progress in 63 projects in the leading DMF active districts like Angul,Jajpur,Keonjhar,Sundargarh and Jharsuguda. While Angul, Jajpur, Keonjhar and Jharsuguda did better in project completion, Sundargarh lagged behind. In utilisation of money Angul,Keonjhar and Jharsuguda did better whereas Jajpur and Sundargarh did perform poorly.
Though Rs 996.94 lakh was spent in Jajpur, the administration submitted UCs for only Rs 467.14 lakh. Similarly, Sundargarh produced UCs for Rs 1,785.65 lakh out of sanctioned amount of Rs 2,206.65 lakh. The report of RD Department states that since implementation of the scheme in 2016-17, in total 423 road works, 312 buildings and 89 bridge works (total 824 projects) have been sanctioned by the district level DMF headed by the Collectors in these districts.
The main objective behind the setting up the DMF was to implement various development and welfare schemes and projects in mining affected areas to minimise the adverse impact caused by mining to socio-economic, environment and health of the people and the area.
