Odisha gets Rs 3,548 crore to develop mineral bearing areas

The Odisha government has received Rs 3,548 crore under the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Trust Fund to carry out development works in mineral bearing areas in the state, a top official said today. "The total contribution received in the DMF Trust Fund till October this year stands at Rs 3,548 crore," Chief Secretary A P Padhi said. The total amount allocated for projects, schemes and works sanctioned for funding out of the DMF was Rs 1,862 crore, Padhi, who reviewed the status of DMF in the state at a meeting held here yesterday, said. The DMF collection in the mineral rich districts of Angul, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar and Sundargarh comes to about Rs 3,414 crore. The Chief Secretary directed the officials to identify and build up a shelf of projects at least three times of the annual accrual in the DMF Fund under high priority and other priority areas indicated in the Odisha District Mineral Foundation Trust rules. The high priority items include drinking water, health, education, women and child welfare, and nutrition while the other priority items include infrastructure, electricity and irrigation. These projects are to be forwarded to the respective DMF Trust Boards through Planning and Convergence Department for their consideration, he said. The Chief Secretary has further directed the Line Departments to strengthen their field formations by redeployment for faster implementation of the DMF sponsored projects, he said. The meeting was attended by senior officials including the development commissioner and principal secretaries and secretaries of finance, steel & mines and other key departments. Collectors of Angul, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts were also present.