Odisha Cabinet Approves 22 Proposals; Amends Tourism Policy To Ease Land Allocation For Hotel Projects

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who completed the first year of his fifth term on Friday, approved 22 proposals, gave post-facto approval to ordinances already promulgated and amended Odisha Tourism Policy 2016 to ease land allocation to hotel projects.

A Special Livelihood Intervention Plan got the nod, wherein the Odisha government will spend ₹17000 crore from June 2020 to March 2021 to tide over the economic crisis triggered by COVID-19.

“The plan will be implemented in rural areas to generate employment through sectors like agriculture, fisheries and animal resources development, MGNREGS, forest and handlooms and handicrafts,” Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy told the media.

The Cabinet has also granted permission to allow workers to work 115 hours overtime in three months. Women workers can now be engaged in all small and large-scale industries. “The government has finalised detail guidelines for their safety and security during night hours,” he said.

Plans are afoot to set up two industrial parks over 1,000 acres each at Dhamra in Bhadrak and Dhenkanal districts with an investment of Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 crore respectively, Tripathy said.

The Cabinet has also approved a proposal for setting up a NDRF permanent company headquarters on 3.50 acre land near PD village under Sadar tehsil in Balasore district, he said.

The chief secretary informed that Aska Co-operative Sugar Industries Ltd had been given a guarantee of Rs 15 crore to avail cash credit loan. Aska Co-op Central Bank had already drawn the amount. The Cabinet gave the post-facto approval in the meeting.

“Contract farming will be encouraged. It will cover production, post-harvest and marketing and help agricultural entrepreneurs aggregate produce in a better manner. New investment in agriculture will be a win-win situation for farmers,” he said.

The government is also planning to form ward-level committees to fight COVID-19 with community participation. ““At present, panchayati raj institutions and Sarpanchs are maintaining quarantine centres and helping in COVID-19 management. We have decided to set up committees at ward-level so that they can help in surveillance at the community level,” he added.

OTHER DECISIONS

OREDA transferred to Energy department for better management of renewable sources of power to draw better projects and investment.

All tourism projects including hotels, restaurants will get land from IDCO.

To encourage setting up of more schools in Odisha, the government will charge only ₹1 as rent/cess from Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Nabodoya Vidyalayas in the state.

Certain administrative steps for better implementation of Society Registration Act 1860 – Online renewal for societies, audit, an institution of Civil Judge to be created to adjudicate differences among members of the Society.

VAT hike on petrol and diesel ratified

OAS posts have been increased from 996 to 1188.