Construction of pucca houses to be completed by November end in Ganjam

Berhampur: Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) has asked Ganjam district administration to complete construction of pucca houses under the World Bank-aided Odisha Disaster Recovery Project (ODRP) by November-end.

These houses should have water and electricity supply besides community centres and road connectivity.

The administration had targetted to construct 16,707 houses in 107 villages in Chhatrapur, Chikiti, Rangeilunda, Ganjam and Khallikote blocks. Of them, work on 8,519 houses have been completed, an official said.

The progress of the project was reviewed by Managing Director of OSDMA, P K Mohapatra with the administration at Chhatrapur recently. Sources said only 3,248 of the 8,519 houses have power supply now.

The district received around Rs 445 crore under the project, of which Rs 404 crore was spent. While Rs 380 crore was disbursed among beneficiates for construction of the houses, the rest amount was meant for building approach roads and water supply projects, etc, said a senior officer.

Like India Awas Yojana (IAY), the project is a beneficiary-driven and the amount would be paid in phases to the beneficiaries, he said.

While the cost of each house is around Rs 3 lakh, the government also provides Rs 12,000 to each beneficiary for construction of toilet under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, sources said.