By Our Correspondent
JODA/BARBIL/BARIPADA/BHUBANESWAR: The visit of 5-members Central Empowered Committee team of the Supreme Court led by PV Jayakrishnan to the mineral rich Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts on Wednesday and Thursday respectively have worried mine owners , those who have poor track record in CSR activities.
The Committee will visit Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation areas in both the district to review the project in ground level. They would visit different places till 2 November and submit their report to the Supreme Court on their return.
Apart from Chairman PV Jayakrishnan, member-secretary Amarnatha Shetty, members SK Patnaik and Mahendra Vyas will conduct spot verification and review fund utilisation and works carried out by the OMBADC.
On Wednesday, the CEC visited Keonjhar district and took stock of the ground realities. The CEC will monitor the projects sites in Mayurbhanj on October 31. The committee members are also likely to visit Similipal Tiger Reserve on November 1.
However, illegal mine owners were worried a lot with CEC team making inroads to many rural pockets hit by mining activities.
The Supreme Court had appointed Justice Ananga Kumar Patnaik as the head of the Oversight Authority Committee to monitor the utilisation of funds. The committee in its meeting in February this year had sanctioned projects worth Rs 10,000 crore to be implemented from the OMBADC fund.
The projects include mega drinking water supply project, health, housing projects and rural road construction projects. The CEC committee has come to the State to monitor the implementation of the projects.
OMBADC Phase-I is under implementation in 691villages spreading over 121 GPs in 29 block of 8 districts namely Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Koraput, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh.
Earlier, CEC held meeting with Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy in Bhubaneswar. Chief Executive Officer of OMBADC Uma Nanduri presented the updates for discussion in the Review Meeting with CEC.
Additional Chief Secretary Steel & Mines Raj Kumar Sharma, Principal Secretary Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Sandeep Tripathy along with Members of the CEC were among those present.
