Three months after the Odisha Cabinet approved the ‘Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha’ scheme that has been dubbed as a pre-poll sop, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on October 10 officially began disbursing funds for panchayat development in the State.
The State government approved ₹148.50 crore for 297 gram panchayats coming under six Assembly constituencies of Keonjhar district and ₹109 crore for 218 gram panchayats in Bhadrak district.
Odisha has proposed to spend ₹3,397 crore for 6,794 gram panchayats across the State. As many as 90,723 projects will be taken up using the fund. Each panchayat is entitled to get ₹50 lakh. The project cost varies between ₹2.5 lakh and ₹10 lakh.