By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 18, 2018: Odisha government on Saturday decided to include four new rural areas under the Rurban Mission increasing the number of clusters to 14 from 10 in the scheme estimated expenditure of Rs 305.65 crore.

The decision was arrived at a State Level Empowerment Committee meeting chaired by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here on Saturday. The new clusters are Kuanrmunda of Sundergarh district, Marichmal of Koraput district, Puttasingh of Rayagada district and Raibania of Balasore district.

On 22 February 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the National Rurban Mission (NRM) to spur social, economic and infrastructure development in rural areas. The NRM is expected to help address the problem of overcrowding of cities due to migration of people from rural areas to urban areas in search of better quality of life.

Padhi directed the Panchayatraj department to lay emphasis on the projects like economic infrastructure, skill development, agro-processing units, inter-village connectivity, digital connectivity, pipe water supply, solid waste management, sanitation, street lights, health services, sustainable livelihood, citizen service centres and LPG connections to each household in the proposed cluster of villages.

The government has decided that the projects worth Rs 230.34 crore will be implemented through convergence of various government programmes and schemes. The balance amount of Rs 75.30 crore will be shared by the Centre and State Government on 60:40 basis as Critical Gap Funding (CGF), Panchayatiraj Secretary D K Singh said.