Odisha govt to spend Rs 3,208 cr to transform Puri

Odisha government on Monday decided to spend Rs 3,208 crore in the next three years to transform the seaside pilgrim town of Puri into a world-class heritage city.

The state cabinet, which met here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, approved 10 proposals including one according to approval for the monetary allocation for the development of Puri.

An amount of Rs 3,208 crore will be spent under the Augmentation of Basic Amenities and Development of Heritage and Architecture (ABADHA) in three years between 2019-20 and 2021-22, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Out of the approved amount for Puri, Rs 719 crore will be spent during the current year, he said.

As many as 15 projects have already been cleared by the government in order to create the infrastructure to make Puri a world-class heritage city and the state cabinet paved the way for their smooth implementation by approving the required funds, Tripathy said.

The cabinet also approved another proposal for allocation of Rs 641.57 crore to implement drinking water projects which will benefit over 3.2 lakh people in the three districts of Jajpur, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj, the chief secretary said.

The project will be implemented in villages located under Sukinda, Hatadihi and Kusumi Blocks of Jajpur, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts respectively, he said.

A similar project will be taken up in Deogarh district at a cost of around Rs 348 crore.

Another proposal pertaining to revenue and disaster management department was cleared by the cabinet to do away with users fees for applicants seeking caste and income certificates, Tripathy said.

The cabinet also decided that the civil aviation sector, which hitherto remained under the General Administration Department, will now come under the jurisdiction of the Commerce and Transport department, he said.