The Odisha cabinet, headed by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has approved four mega drinking water projects at Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Gajapati, and Cuttack districts worth Rs 800.27 crore. These projects will provide drinking water to an additional population of 6.07 lakh spread across 911 villages.
Along with the drinking water projects, the cabinet has also passed several other approvals focussing on industrial development, irrigation, and other sectors.
“The State Cabinet has approved the proposal to amend certain sections of the Factories Act 1948 to increase the threshold of workers in power generated industrial units from 10 to 20 whereas the limit has been increased to 40 from 20 workers in manual labour intensive industrial units”, said Asit Tripathy, Odisha Chief secretary.
The state has also planned to make provisions to increase workers in power generated industrial units. They plan to amend certain sections of the Factories Act, 1948 to increase the threshold of workers in power generated industrial units from 10 to 20. In parallel, the limit in manual labour intensive industrial units has been increased to 40 from 20 workers.
“The State Cabinet has also approved the Amendment in Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR) 2007 and IPR 2015 to enable VAT reimbursement (fiscal incentives) substitute by net SGST incentives. The amendment will help the MSMEs and large industries to set up new units as well as in expansion”, said the Chief Secretary.
Notably, a proposal has been approved which would provide the government with a guarantee of Rs 1500 crore for the loans that are already availed by GRIDCO during the financial year 2019-20. Meanwhile, the ‘Nirmal’ Scheme is also to be extended to strengthen the ancillary services at public health facilities with an estimated budget of Rs 199815.46 lakh for 5 years covering 1,864 health institutions.
“The objective of the scheme is to provide better ambience to the patients and their attendants at public health facilities, to minimise hospital-acquired infections, to improve patients’ satisfaction. The scheme shall also include the Medical Colleges and Hospitals, AYUSH Colleges and Hospitals, Nursing Schools, and Colleges up to PHC level”, Tripathy added.