Rs 225.5 crore sanctioned for Odisha’s 36 urban local bodies

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has sanctioned Rs 225.5 crore for 36 urban local bodies (ULBs) covering 10 districts under the state-funded flagship scheme Mukhya Mantri Karma Tatpara Abhiyan (MUKTA) for the current financial year.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik approved this on Saturday for the ULBs of Dhenkanal, Angul, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Balangir, Subarnapur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda and Deogarh districts under the revenue divisional commissioner (RDC), northern division.
It was the third and last phase of sanction for the ULBs under the MUKTA scheme. So far, the state has sanctioned Rs 833.2 crore in three phases covering all 115 ULBs of 30 districts of Odisha. Last week, the state government sanctioned Rs 183.8 crore in the second phase in favour of 42 ULBs covering 10 districts of RDC, southern division.
MUKTA was launched on April 18, 2020, with a mission to create rapid, immediate and mass employment opportunities for urban poor, informal and migrant labourers while addressing the need for the creation of climate-resilient, cost-effective sustainable and replicable community assets by implementing labour-intensive public works across 115 ULBs.
All these 36 ULBs in the last phase have developed ward-wise feasible annual action plans under this scheme through a participatory process involving local citizens and key stakeholders. These action plans have been screened at the department level before the approval of the chief minister. These approved projects will be executed directly by Mission Shakti groups as implementing agencies, said the statement of the chief minister’s office.
The approved projects under MUKTA were climate resilient work, which includes the creation of civic amenities (mini park, open-air gym, child play station, playground, walking track, loo, vending zones), open space development, water body development, construction of multi-purpose community centres, wall painting, city beautification and other labour-oriented works, said the official statement.
MUKTA is a community-driven scheme tailor-made for community-based organisations like women's self-help groups (SHGs) and slum dwellers associations.