Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced cash incentives for districts for successful implementation of various welfare schemes in the state.
Addressing the district collectors' conference here on the second day, he said the government will honour the districts every year to acknowledge the outstanding efforts and to motivate sincere teamwork."The best district in the disbursement of incentives for rural pucca houses would receive an award of Rs 1 crore. One best model GP (gram panchayat) selected in each of the thirty districts would receive an award of Rs 50 lakh each," said the chief minister.He said the best district in coverage of BPL households in rural electrification will receive Rs one crore while the best district in overall tribal welfare will receive an award of Rs one crore.He said the best district in the implementation of the construction worker welfare package will get Rs one crore and the best district in skill development and employment generation will receive Rs one crore.
The best district on credit linkage to women Self Help Groups (SHG) will be awarded Rs one crore, Patnaik said."This will also promote healthy competition among districts to do good work for the people," he added.He also said the state government would provide pension to three lakh more people under different pension schemes.He said four million old and destitute persond, widows and differently-abled people have already been covered under various pension schemes."I have instructed the collectors to ensure inclusion of these additional beneficiaries by this August," said the chief minister.The chief minister also felicitated the collectors of Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur and Khurda districts with cash awards for their outstanding performance.While the Mayurbhanj district callector was awarded a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh for work on food processing, the Nabarangpur and Khurda collectors won the second and third prize of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for their efforts on eradication of superstition and promoting eye care respectively.