By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 22, 2017 : Odisha government on Thursday cleared 53 projects worth Rs 538 crore for development of towns under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.

Total 148 projects were approved with the latest approval of 53 projects for AMRUT cities — Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Puri, Balasore, Bhadrak and Baripada with total allocation shooting up to Rs 1,100 crore.

Approving the projects, the state level empowered committee meeting chaired by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi directed the department to expedite the implementation and commission those within the scheduled time.

Padhi further directed the department to drop the non-starter projects approved earlier and substitute them with new ones and to focus on water supply and sewerage projects. He also emphasized that no area of the AMRUT towns be left uncovered with water supply by end of the project period.

The AMRUT scheme got kicked off in Odisha from 2015-16 with a target to complete the projects by 2019-20. The projects will be carried out on PPP model with 50:50 equity of State and Centre for the development of AMRUT cities.

Various projects worth total Rs 1,600 crore will be executed in these nine cities of Odisha in next five years since 2015-16.

Chairing the meeting, Padhi directed Housing & Urban Development department to provide various services to the citizens within deadline by expediting the projects.

He also directed to include all the wards in AMRUT cities under drinking water supply projects by 2019-20.