The Hindu 18.05.2013
WODC to meet in western districts on rotation basis
Naveen holds review meeting with officials
The Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) will hold its meeting in the 11 western Odisha districts on rotation basis in the days to come.
The decision that the WODC will hold its meetings in the different districts coming under its jurisdiction was taken at a review meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here on Friday.
The districts that come under the western region of the State are Angul, Bargarh, Bolangir, Boudh, Deogarh, Subarnapur, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Sambalpur and Sundargarh.
The WODC will hold its meetings at the district headquarters towns of the 11 districts with a view to know about the requirements of the respective districts and review the developmental programmes that were already under implementation in those regions, according to an official release.
The meeting also decided that guidelines will be prepared for preparation of projects under the WODC on the lines of the guidelines that existed for projects to be implemented under the MLA Local Area Development Funds.
The Chief Minister also said that the WODC should pay adequate attention to the needs of the backward Blocks of western Odisha.
Mr. Patnaik further said that the different Departments concerned and the Collectors of the districts concerned should take steps for timely completion of various projects under the WODC. The completion date of various projects should be fixed at the time of issuance of work orders for different works, Mr. Patnaik said.
The Chief Minister further suggested that the District Collectors should review the implementation of WODC projects every month and Revenue Divisional Commissioners should review the projects once in every quarter.
It was revealed at the meeting that a total of Rs. 883.05 crore had been granted to WODC since its inception in 1998 and 74 per cent of the funds had been utilised so far on projects that primarily include roads and irrigation projects.
