26th Board of Directors Meeting of OMBADC was held under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary

The Board focused on more of Livelihood and Skill development projects related to tribal youth

21th August 2023 (Odisha Tazanews) Bhubaneswar  :-> The 26^th Board of Directors Meeting of OMBADC was held on today under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, Odisha-cum-Chairman, OMBADC Shri Pradeep Kumar Jena. Other Directors who attended the meeting were Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary, Odisha Smt. Anu Garg,  Additional Chief Secretary FE & CC, Govt. of Odisha (through virtual mode), PCCF & HOFF Odisha, Govt. of Odisha, Chief Executive Officer, OMBADC and all Independent Directors.

Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC), a public limited government company, not for profit, has been incorporated under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 on 02 December 2014. The said company is a “Special Purpose Vehicle” (SPV) incorporated for undertaking tribal welfare and area development works in the mineral bearing areas of the State.

In the BoD Meeting, Shri SatyabrataSahu,, IAS, ACS Revenue, Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department, incorporated  as the new Director in the Board of OMBADC was welcomed by the Chairman. Shri G. Rajesh, CEO OMBADC presented the updated financial status of the Company, wherein total fine amount collected, funds disbursed and utilized by the different line departments was detailed out. The status of projects funded under Compensation Money was also presented to the Board of Directors for their update.

The CEO informed that under the Compensation money funds, the Board has approved 54 projects amounting to Rs. 17916.16 Cr under different Board meetings since the 14^th BOD meeting held in the month of April 2019. The projects have been proposed by 18 Line departments and most of the approved projects are under implementation. The Line departments have successfully utilized an amount of Rs. 7223.01 Cr till date out of the total released fund of Rs. 9737.58 Cr. The projects pertain to sectors like Drinking Water, Education, Health, Livelihood, Environment Protection, Rural Connectivity and Water Conservation. Sector wise allocation of funds out of the total allocation of Rs. 17916.16 Cr. is presented below:

Further the CEO presented a brief overview of the sanctioned projects for updating the Board members, the status of which is as follows :- 

• Under the Drinking water sector, OMBADC has approved 30 Mega Pipe Water Supply projects for 4 mining districts- Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur and Pallahada block of Angul out of which 03 projects have been partially commissioned and stared supplying water to 127 villages.

• The 690-no. of single and multi-village scheme for 787 villages of Mayurbhanj and Drink from Tap (DFT) scheme for 14 ULBs have also been initiated. DFT scheme in two ULBs- Rairangpur and Sundargarh is completed and trial run is in progress.

• Total investment under the Drinking water sector is Rs. 8909 Cr.

• The projects under the Education sector like infrastructure development in elementary, secondary schools and OAVs is under progress.

• 1351 no. of secondary schools have also been funded by OMBADC in three phases under the 5T initiative of Govt. of Odisha within the High School Transformation project. Till date works are completed in almost 75 % The 4^th phase project for 250 schools has also been approved by the Board of OMBADC in the current BoD meeting held on 21/08/2023. 

• OMBADC is also supporting in upgradation of Govt ITIs and Polytechnics in the mining districts and developing them as Centre of Excellenceand work is undertakenby the SD&TE dept. In the BoD meeting held today, 02 projects related to AR/VR simulation at ITI Koira and infra development in another 14 ITI s and 7 Govt. polytechnics in 08 mining districts have also been approved by the BOD of OMBADC.

• Another ambitious project funded by OMBADC is construction of 11 indoor stadiums for ULBs and NACs and all works are completed for all the stadiums.

• Other projects funded under the education sector are related to strengthening the OUAT, RRTTSs and KVKs, infra development in GCE, Keonjhar and NC College Jajpur.

• The total investment in the Education sector is Rs. 3539.30 Cr.

• Under the Health sector, OMBADC has invested a total of Rs. 2942.91 Cr for infra development in the district, block and sub block level Health facilities, construction of 150 bedded MCH wing in the medical college at Jajpur, new infra projects for ICDS, construction of composite rehabilitation centers in OMBADC supported mining districts etc.

• In the Water conservation sector an investment of more than Rs.700Cr has been incurred through which several types of SMC activities have been initiated by the DFOs. Further, 2 Cr 6 months old saplings and 3 Cr 18 months old saplings are being grown which is being utilized for social forestry and afforestation purposes.

• The Rural connectivity sector has a similar investment of approximately Rs. 700 Cr. which aims to connect unconnected habitations through construction of 249 all-weather roads and 25 bridges. Out of the approved 209 roads, 151 has been completed and out of 24 bridges, 11 are completed.

• More than Rs. 500 Cr has been allocated for the Livelihood projects where activities like Horticulture, Animal husbandry, Fisheries, Sericulture and Handloom etc. has been approved by the Board. 948 SHGs have benefitted till date through fisheries interventions, 1194 broiler units and 643 Goat units have been established.

• An amount of Rs. 19.75 Cr has been sanctioned for the Environment Protection and Pollution Control sector where 08 no. of CAAQMS have been installed in excessively polluted areas of the mining districts. Commissioning of 01 CAAQMS is pending.

• The CEO also presented 05 no. of new proposals related to areas like High School Transformation for 250 secondary schools under the 5T initiative amounting to Rs. 150.00 Cr, 02 projects from SD&TE department related to infrastructure development of ITIs and Polytechnics into CoEs and introduction of AR/VR simulation machines amounting to Rs. 104.80 Cr and Rs. 12.20 Cr respectively and 02 projects related to road and bridge construction in Pallahara block of Angul district amounting to approximately Rs. 64 Cr. and Rs. 12.50 Cr. respectively. The total value of the approved projects is approximately Rs. 345 Cr. All the projects have been approved by the Board of Directors for implementation by concerned line departments and their PIAs.

Several drinking water projects, Health projects, projects of SD & TE dept and Horticulture projects were provided extension of time by the Board of  Directors as some components were still under progress. Regarding pending UCs related to OMBADC projects, it has been decided by the Development Commissioner-cum-ACS and Chairman of the OMBADC  Sub Committee that the issue will be discussed in the All Secretaries meeting to be held shortly.

It has also been decided by the Board that more of Livelihood and Skill development projects related to tribal youth will be taken up out of the balance funds available with OMBADC. The meeting concluded with the release of Impact Assessment Report of the OMBADC funded Pucca Ghar Yojana (Mining) scheme and Brochures for the months of March and April 2023. The effort of OMBADC related to project evaluation was appreciated by the Board and the Chairman, OMBADC has instructed to go for similar evaluation exercises for all completed projects.

The details of visit of Oversight Authority for OMBADC, Justice A.K. Patnaik, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India to Mayurbhanj district was also projected for information of the Board. Over the last 5 years of project initiation by OMBADC, a record amount of Rs. 3004.26 Cr was released by OMBADC to the Line departments in the FY 2022-23 and an amount of Rs. 2667.11 Cr was cumulatively utilized by the line departments. The DC-cum- ACS has appreciated the streamlining of the fund release process of OMBADC in the FY 2022-23. The proposed budget for the current FY i.e. 2023-24 is Rs. 4534.44 Cr.