Berhampur: The Gajapati district administration has taken up various infrastructure development works worth Rs 18 crore for the tribal-dominated Gangabad panchayat on the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border, which was ravaged by cyclone Titli in 2018.
The development works will include the long-pending road from Kainpur to Gangabad (Rs 9.65 crore), another 2.5-km road from Champapur to Gangabad (Rs 5.4 crore), a cyclone shelter centre (Rs 1.71 crore), pipe water supply to households in Gangabad and Manikpatna (Rs 17 lakh) and installation of solar power system in five places of three villages of the panchayat, including Gangabad, Manikpatna and Champaur (Rs 5 crore).
“We have taken up all the works under different development schemes after conducting a review of the problems of the border panchayat during a field visit,” said Gajapati collector Lingaraj Panda. The works have already started and will complete in six months, said another officer.
The infrastructure of the panchayat was severely damaged in cyclone Titli ,which hit in October 2018.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had visited the area soon after the storm hit and asked the district administration to take up the development works.
Besides, Gangabad often remains in the news for its border dispute with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh that had allegedly tried to intrude the panchayat by luring its residents.
Apart from the development of the infrastructure facilities, the district administration has also taken up various programmes under the Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM) for economic development of local residents.
Financial support was extended to the women self-help groups to rear ornamental fish, collect tamarind and initiate various other vocational activities, sources said.
Similarly, the construction of as many as 206 houses under different schemes has been completed in 2020-21 in the panchayat, the sources added.
