District review by bureaucrats to resume after two years

BHUBANESWAR: After a gap of over two years, the State government has decided to resume review of welfare schemes in districts. 30 senior bureaucrats, including Secretary level officers, have been allotted fresh districts to monitor development projects and resolve local issues. The officers have been asked to regularly visit the districts allotted to them to oversee implementation of schemes, delivery of public services and submit reports on key findings of their visits to the Chief Secretary.

The move is expected to accelerate the pace of development at the grassroots level with effective monitoring, ensure proper implementation of welfare schemes and strengthen service delivery mechanisms. Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Satyabrata Sahu, Principal Secretaries Arabinda Kumar Padhi, Nikunja Dhal, Bishnupada Sethi and Chithra Arumugam, Secretaries Manoj Mishra, Suresh Vashishth and Sanjeev Chadha, Director Social Welfare Aravind Agarwal and Director Tourism Sachin R Jadhav have been allotted aspirational districts of Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Balangir, Koraput, Gajapati, Dhenkanal, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Nuapada respectively.

While ACS Anu Garg will visit Puri, Principal Secretaries Vishal Dev, Hemant Sharma, DK Singh and VV Yadav will tour Mayurbhanj, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar and Sambalpur respectively. Mission Shakti Secretary Sujata R Karthikeyan will visit Cuttack and OMC MD Balwant Singh has been allotted Sundargarh.        
A notification issued by the Planning and Convergence department stated the officials have been asked to inspect implementation of various flagship schemes, including drinking water, electrification, Food Security Act, pension and tribal welfare activities.