By Our Correspondent
KOIRA/BONAI/BHUBANESWAR: Collector Sundargarh Nikhil Pavan Kalyan has launched the Baseline Survey and Micro Planning Project for the six mining affected blocks of Sundargarh district, Odisha. The District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Sundargarh has been supporting this participatory micro plan and the baseline survey, which will be conducted in 185 villages in 29 Gram Panchayats in 6 blocks (Hamgir, Koida, Lahunipada, Rajgangpur, Kuarmunda and Kutra). Youth for Social Development (YSD) an expert organization on participatory planning, local governance and development has been designing the technical tools and implementing the survey and micro planning along with two other NGOs i.e. Sarda and Niyatee Foundation.
This is the first ever participatory micro planning and baseline survey in any DMF district in the country. More than 40,000 households affected in the mining areas will be surveyed through a mobile application and micro plan will be prepared with the participation of the people in the 185 villages. The micro plan prepared by the people will be presented in the gram sabha and approved by the people in the mining affected gram panchayats.
This is the bottom-up planning approach to understand the people’s needs and include such considerations in the DMF plan based on the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR), 1957, as amended in 2015, and the Odisha DMF Rules, 2015 (as amended in February 2016).
This intervention will help the gram panchayats to identify issues, needs of the people, prepare a micro plan by the people, for the people and of the people and those needs to be addressed, have been highlighted and capture the perception and need of mining-affected people in a comprehensive fashion. At the same time enable the PRI members and officials to conduct the people centered gram sabha and convergence between departments, by collecting relevant information and data from the ground and approval by the people.
In this occasion the team members of DMF-Sundargarh Rasai Laguri, CEO of DMF, Anil Kumar Kerketta, DIPRO Sundargarh, Sameer Kumar Patel, technical manager DMF, Munmun Dasmahapatra, Programme Manager, DMF and, team of Youth for Social Development and Bibhu Prasad Sahu, Secretary, Youth for Social Development, Jeebant Kumar Project Coordinator and Sudeep Chakrabarty Coordinator and representatives of other two NGO partners were present.
