AAI, UNDP to develop 15 villages around Birsa airport

Ranchi: The Ranchi district administration on Tuesday signed a memorandum of undestanding (MoU) with Airports Authority of India (AAI) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to implement a project to develop 15 villages near Birsa Munda International Airport as part of the their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative.
The initiative will be taken up under a project titled ‘Resilience Building of Communities around Birsa Munda Airport’ and aims at creating a sustainable economic and social development model for people residing in the villages by providing technical assistance and interventions in the field of education, health, nutrition and civic amenities. While AAI will provide the fund, UNDP will implement the development activities.

After signing the MoU, Ranchi deputy commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray said: “AAI has earmarked Rs 6.18 crore for the CSR initiative for Ranchi district and UNDP has submitted a proposal of activities which it will undertake to develop the selected villages on socio-economic parameters. The areas of focus will be providing clean drinking water, keeping tab on nutrition levels and supporting the existing healthcare and educational infrastructure by providing necessary assistance.”

He further said 15 villages have to be selected under the scheme of which 12 have been identified so far. The rest three will be finalised within a span of two months. The 12 selected villages include Hundru, Chota Ghagra, Hethu, Chandaghasi, Churu Lodhma, Karamtoli, Kacchatoli, Latma, Nariguttu, Khijri, Pokhartoli and Tombaguttu.

Manoj Prasad, terminal manager of Birsa Munda International Airport, said, “AAI is one of the largest contributors (government sector) in CSR initiatives across the country. Under this initiative, we will be selecting three more villages after consultation with the district administration.”

UNDP has been running a similar community development project in Guwahati where it has worked on providing digital literacy, access to clean drinking water, sanitation and helped provide quality healthcare by supporting the government’s infrastructure. “In Guwahati, we have worked extensively on community development programmes,” said Shubham Tandon, a project officer with UNDP.

Speaking about the initiative, UNDP project co-ordinator Manish Mohandas said, “We will conduct a socio-economic analysis of the target villages and try to analyse their access to health facilities, lack of facilities in schools and will also try to find alternative employment options for the unemployed. We will provide mobile medical units and computers to schools. We are also planning on skilling the rural population for their self-employment.”