Odisha Cabinet: 8 proposals get approval with new schemes in F&ARD

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Cabinet meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday approved eight proposals. After the meeting, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja in a press briefing informed about the decisions taken in the Cabinet.

“A total of 8 Agenda items i.e. five from the F&ARD department, one from Water Resource Department and one related to the GA&PG Department were presented in the Cabinet Meeting and all have been approved while another one relates to the summoning of the 2nd session of 17th OLA,” the Chief Secretary said. Additional Chief Secretary, GA & PG Department Surendra Kumar, Principal Secretary, Fisheries & Animal Resources Development Department Suresh Kumar Vashisth were also present during the press brief.

Poultry Development:

The sub-scheme “Poultry Development” under the new State Sector umbrella Scheme “Prani Sampad Samruddhi Yojana (PSSY)” was placed in the Cabinet and has been approved by the Cabinet. This Sub-scheme comprises the following components and will be implemented in the State for 5 years from the FY 2024-25 to 2028-29 with a total budget outlay of Rs. 1031.1936 Crore. This sub-scheme aims at benefiting 3,73,928 farmers including WSHGs. There will be an additional production of about 95.58 TVT meat per year & 5.5 lakh eggs per day upon implementation of the scheme.

Rs.696.21 crore for fisheries:

The State Sector Scheme ‘Infrastructure Development’ was placed in the Cabinet and has been approved by the Cabinet. This scheme will be implemented in the State for three years from the FY 2024-25 to 2026-27 with the sub-schemes namely (a) Infrastructure Development (b) Construction of Office Building (c) Maintenance and repair with a total budget outlay of nearly Rs.696.21 Crore. This scheme aims to develop & upgrade 619 projects covering 31 Fish markets, 58 FH/FLC and jetties, 142 fish farms, and 266 govt. offices and 122 other fisheries-related infrastructure projects in various phases within 3 years under the Fisheries sector. This scheme will benefit 16 lakh fishers in three years.

Rs.449.71 crore for ARD sector:

The State Sector Scheme ‘Infrastructure Development’ in the ARD sector was placed in the Cabinet and has been approved by the Cabinet. This scheme will be implemented in the State for 3 years from the FY 2024-25 to 2026-27 with a total budget outlay of Rs.449.71 Crore as mentioned below. This scheme aims at new construction/repair & renovation of veterinary hospitals/dispensaries, Livestock Aid Centres & other veterinary institutions for better veterinary service delivery.

Rs 342 crore for GOMATA scheme:

The New State Sector Scheme “Goal for Management and Treatment of Animals” (GOMATA) in the ARD sector was placed in the Cabinet and has been approved by the Cabinet. This scheme will be implemented in the State for 3 years from the FY 2024-25 to 2026-27 with a total budget outlay of Rs. 342.6587 Crore as mentioned below. This scheme aims to benefit the livestock farmers of the State through the delivery of Veterinary services at veterinary institutions and at farmers’ doorstep through treatment, vaccination, disease control and surveillance. The implementation of the scheme will facilitate phase-wise vaccination of 2.5 Cr & treatment of 1.30 Cr livestock annually.

MMKY for fishermen welfare:

The State Sector Umbrella Scheme Mukhyamantri Maschyajibi Kalyan Yojana (MMKY)’ was placed in the Cabinet and has been approved by the Cabinet. This scheme will be implemented in the State from the FY 2024-25 to 2028-29 having the following 17 sub-schemes with a total budget outlay of nearly Rs. 2239.00 Crore. This scheme aims at covering all sectors of fisheries like freshwater, brackish water and marine to augment fish production and export to increase fishers’ income. The scheme will benefit about 14 lakh fishers including 6,67,500 fishers and 7,32,500 WSHG members in the next 5 years.

Odisha Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024

In order to prevent various forms of unfair means such as impersonation, cheating, and disrupting the examination process, leakage of information related to an exam before the scheduled time, unauthorized entry into exam halls etc. and to maintain the integrity of public exams conducted by the Odisha Public Service Commission, Odisha Staff Selection Commission, Odisha Subordinate Staff Selection Commission, Service Selection Board, Odisha Police Selection Board, State Selection Board constituted under the Odisha Education (Selection Board for the State)Rules,1992, Odisha Joint Entrance Examination, regulated by the Odisha Professional Educational Institution (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007, Departments of the State Government and their attached and subordinate offices for recruitment of staff, Selection Agencies / Committees engaged or constituted by the State Government, and all such other authority as may be notified by the State Government from time to time, an Act namely Odisha Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 is proposed to be framed.

All offences under this Act, shall be cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable. Any person or persons resorting to unfair means and offences, shall be punished with imprisonment ranging three to five years and with fine up to ten lakh rupees. The service provider shall also be liable to be punished with imposition of a fine up to one crore rupees and proportionate cost of examination shall also be recovered from such service provider. In case of default of payment of fine, an additional punishment of imprisonment shall be imposed, as per the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanita, 2023.

WSIDP Scheme extended by 5 years

The scheme “Water Sector Infrastructure Development Programme” (WSIDP) was implemented by the State Government with the objectives of expeditious completion of on-going irrigation projects not having any tied up funding, grounding of new irrigation projects, undertaking survey & investigation and to take up projects to advance stage of construction for availing central government funding like PMKSY by completing pre-project activities & preparing shelf of projects. The State Cabinet today approved the extension of the scheme with an estimated cost of Rs.9652.24 Cr for a period of 5 years i.e. from 2024-25 to 2028-29.

Under the scheme, an additional ayacut of 1,58,318 ha will be created and 6435 ha will be stabilized, which will accelerate the pace of irrigation development in the state and enhance economic growth in the command areas by smooth execution and timely completion of the on-going last mile projects with adequate provision of fund. It will also help in controlling flood and drought situation in respective river basins and will provide water to the farmers in phased manner.