Bhubaneswar: The Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water (PR & DW) Department is committed to provide hassle-free services to 88.56 lakh rural households of the State. It is the vision of Chief Minister to provide safe drinking water to all rural households; provide livelihood security to the vulnerable sections of the society through rural employment generation, creation of durable tangible assets for the community in convergence with various schemes and programmes; women empowerment by providing skill development training and market support to the rural artisans and producers by making the services of the PR & DW Department reach the doorstep of rural households, said Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pradip Kumar Amat, while addressing the presser on the highlights of the PR&DW Department on the Budget 2023-24 Financial Year at Geeta Govinda Sadan today.
The Budget Provision in respect of PR & DW Department for the FY 2023-24 is Rs. 26,311.95 crore which is 16% higher than last year Budget.
It has been a consistent endeavor of the Department and its field functionaries to secure the livelihood of those who are the most vulnerable of the society and the endeavor is further strengthened through the provision for MGNREGS in the budget 2023-24.
Towards this end of the budget of 2023-24 makes provision for revolving funds of Rs.1000 crore to provide wages to the job seekers if sanctions under MGNREGS from the Government of India are delayed, informed the Minister Amat.
An amount of Rs. 500 crores have been earmarked as State support to MGNREGS to provide employment in existing 20 migration prone Blocks of Balangir, Bargarh, Nuapada and Kalahandi districts. In this financial year, it is proposed to extend this support to few more Blocks where rural people migrate out of distress.
During 2022-23, a total of 16.81 crore persondays has been generated so far. Participation SC and ST is 50% and women participation is 47.9%. During the FY, 31.74 lakh HH have been provided employment covering 49.11 lakh beneficiaries, which also includes 15,697 differently-abled beneficiaries. 3, 36,282 HH completed 100 days of employment so far.
Various productive assets like 28,829 Farm Pond, 1738 AWCs, 5356 Dug wells, 2705 Play Fields, 537 Rural Parks, 1119 GP Model tanks, 17, and 27580 Water Conservation and Watershed works completed. 4.24 lakh works have been completed and 5.32 lakh works are ongoing, stated PR &DW Department’s Principal Secretary Sushil Kumar Lohani.
Under the guidance of Hon’ble Chief Minister Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department has taken all out efforts to provide safe drinking water to all the rural habitations. Till now 13930 PWS projects and 477537 tube wells have been installed in the State.
There is a budget provision of Rs. 5750 crore under JJM, Rs.3750 crore under BASUDHA and Rs.1000 crore under RIDF for the financial year 2023-24. An amount of Rs.57,000 Crore is the toal outlay under different schemes to provide safe tap water to all families by 2024. It includes 207 Mega Drinking Water Supply Projects based on surface water at a cost of Rs.42, 000 Crore. Till date, 10 projects have been completed, 163 projects are in progress and tender process for 34 projects is going on.
Out of total 88, 56,387 rural families 50, 71,000 rural families of the State are being provided with tap connection. 01 State level, 30 District level and 46 Sub-District level (total 77) water testing laboratories have been set up and are operational for determining drinking water quality, informed Lohani.
State Government commits to provide pucca houses to all houseless and households staying in Kutcha houses through various Rural Housing Schemes with a view to achieving the objective of “Shelter Security to All“.
State has already paid incentive amount of Rs.1343 Crore to 8.20 lakh beneficiaries towards early completion of house construction. State has paid BPGY House Repair Grant of Rs.818 crores @ Rs. 3000/- per house to 27.27 Lakh Households towards completed houses under various Rural Housing Schemes. 9.59 lakh houses to be started under PMAY (G) including 1.42 lakh houses towards FANI affected during FY 2023-24. There is a budget provision of Rs. 5933.70 cr under PMAY (G).
The 15th Central Finance Commission have recommended allocation of funds from 2021-22 to 2025-26 to the 3 tier Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to provide basic services to the rural people and creation & maintenance of assets of the PRIs. The major chunk of Tied grant (60% of the total grant) is also earmarked to provide safe drinking water and sanitation facility to the rural people.
The funds allocation for the year 2023-24 is Rs. 1747 crore. Besides this the 15th FC Grant also recommended specific fund allocation as Health Sector Grant to be utilised for the purpose of strengthening rural health sector like SCs, PHCs, CHCs which is being utilised by PR & DW Department in consultation with H & FW Department and coordination at Zilla Parishad level. For the year 2023-24, the fund allocation is Rs. 372.15 crore.
The 5th State Finance Commission have recommended Devolution grant of Rs. 915.09 crore for FY 2023-24. The Devolution funds have been allocated in a proportion of 60:30:10 in favour of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad respectively and special emphasis has been given to the schedule areas GPs by earmarking 25% additional fund allocation. This Devolution grant can be utilised for execution of need based developmental projects in rural areas.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Koushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), a State run Placement linked Skill Development Training Programme in Odisha, bears huge sustainable employment potential.
ORMAS partners 105 Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) to implement DDU-GKY components for making the rural poor youths skilled, employed, and economically independent and establish their own identity in the society in the long run. Since inception of the programme, 2.15 lakh youths are trained and 1.50 lakh skilled youths are placed in private companies inside and outside the State.
During the FY 2023-24 an amount of Rs.25 crore has been allotted for starting a new State scheme “Implementation support to ORMAS” for skill, livelihood & marketing, informed Lohani.
During the FY 2023-24 an amount of Rs.70 crore has been allotted for capacity building of PRI members and officials under the central sponsored Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan(RGSA) scheme. During the FY 2022-23, 54310 PRIs have been trained by utilizing Rs. 32.79 crore.
An amount of Rs. 212.87 crore and Rs. 27 crore has been allocated for maintenance of Schools, AWCs, Sub Centres, PHCs, Livestock Aid Centres; and Residential & Non-Residential buildings of officials and PRI members.
The State Government has provided Rs.250 crore for the construction of building for Vana Suraksha Samiti for the first time. There is a provision of Rs. 25 crore to provide VC facilities and creation of Data Centre at each Gram Panchayat across the State. Steps are being taken by this department to fill up the vacant posts of GRS, Panchayat Executive Officer, Junior Engineer, APO, GPEO etc. on priority basis.
The State Government under the guidance of Chief Minister is committed to provide the facilities available in the urban areas to the people residing in Rural areas. The development across sectors in Rural areas is well reflected, replied Minister Amat to a question on migration from village to town.
I&PR Director Indramani Tripathy coordinated the presser. Senior Officers of PR & DW Department and Journalists were present at the meet.
