Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday nominated Secretary-level officers for the 10 'Aspirational Districts' as per the instructions of the Union government.
As per official sources, the Planning and Convergence department has issued a notification nominating 10 senior officers (Secretary-in-charge) of the aspirational districts for a period of three months with effect from April 1, 2021.
While Principal Secretary Commerce and Transport Department Madhu Sudan Padhi has been kept in charge of Kandhamal district, MSME Principal Secretary Satyabrata Sahu has been nominated Secretary-in-charge of Kalahandi.
Principal Secretary (Energy) Nikunj Bihari Dhal has been kept in charge of Rayagada, Principal Secretary (Steel & Mines) Surendra Kumar is in charge for Bolangir district.
As per the official notification, Principal Secretary (Science & Technology) Santosh Sarangi and Secretary ST & SC Development Ranjan Chopra have been kept in-charge of Koraput and Dhenkanal districts, respectively.
Similarly, Principal Secretary (Revenue & Disaster Management) Bishnupada Sethi will be in-charge for Nuapada, Secretary SSEPD Bhaskar Jyoti Sarma for Gajapati, MD IPICOL Nitin B Jawale for Malkangiri; MD Social Welfare, W &CD Aravinda Agarwal will be looking after the affairs of Nabarangpur district.
As per reports, the Secretaries will closely follow-up on the 49 key performance indicators (KPIs) across five-sectors – Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resource, Financial Inclusion, Skill Development and basic infrastructure in these 10 districts.
“The senior officers will extensively visit these aspirational districts and present their reports for review in the State Level Committee for monitoring of Action Plan. The Centre has also appointed Central Prabhari Officers for the aspirational districts,” said an official release.
As per the State government, the senior officers will be coordinating with the Central officers so that these backward districts will get a boost.
It is pertinent to mention here that several aspirational districts have improved their positions and received financial support from the NITI Aayog for their performance.
(Edited By Pradeep Singh)