Sabuja Odisha Mission to be launched

The Hindu, Nov 28, 2013

To plant 44.52 crore saplings across the State over a period of four years

The State government will soon launch Sabuja Odisha Mission to plant 44.52 crore saplings across the State over a period of four years. A proposal in this regard was approved by the State Cabinet on Wednesday.

Briefing presspersons after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra informed that 28.92 crore saplings would be planted by the Forest Department under various schemes while the rest 15.60 crore would be distributed among the people though various agencies.

The total outlay for the ambitious scheme was pegged at Rs. 1763.52 crore of which Rs. 438.20 crore would be provided under the State Plan of the Forest and Environment Department and the rest Rs. 1325.32 crore would be mobilised through convergence of Finance Commission grants, Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and other Central schemes.

The scheme will be implemented starting from the financial year 2013-14 and during the current year a budgetary provision of Rs. 85.40 crore had been allocated in the Forest Department.

Another proposal

Another major proposal that was approved in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was the Canal Lining and System Rehabilitation Programme at a cost of Rs. 1000 crore to irrigate 3 lakh hectares of land in five years.

The new scheme was designed to cover 22 canal systems in eight major irrigation projects, 19 medium irrigation projects and 214 minor irrigation projects, Mr. Mohapatra informed.

The Cabinet also approved amendment in the Diploma Services Rules, and under the new rule the recruitment of diploma engineers would be conducted by the Staff Selection Commission.

The Cabinet also gave its nod to relaxation of age limit for diploma engineers by allowing them three chances to appear in the test.

Another amendment to the Odisha Medical and Health Services Rules that would allow recruitment of medical officers on the basis of a written test and career marking was also approved by the Cabinet.

A total of 16 proposals were approved by the Cabinet in the meeting. They include an amendment to the Forest Service Recruitment Act for the appointment of Assistant Forest Conservators, reduction of VAT on Aviation Turbine Fuel from 22 per cent to five per cent, and a decision to make the government engineering colleges at Bhawanipatna, Paralakhemundi and Keonjhar as constituent colleges of the Biju Patnaik University of Technology.