Bhubaneswar: Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pratap Jena on Tuesday informed the State Assembly that 2,467 villages are inaccessible in Odisha.
The Minister, while replying to a question by Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi, said Rayagada tops with 305. It is followed by Kalahandi 270, Jagatsinghpur 211, Nabarangpur 188, Gajapati 160, Malkangiri 150, Mayurbhanj 145, Keonjhar 141, Angul 108, Koraput 98, Ganjam 93, Dhenkanal 86, Nayagarh 73, Balasore 64, Sambalpur 58, Nuapada 56, Boudh 54, Deogarh 40, Kendrapara 17, Sundargarh 13, Jharsuguda 6, Khordha 3 and Puri 2.
Jena said six districts of Bargarh, Bhadrak, Bolangir, Cuttack, Jajpur and Subarnapur have zero inaccessible villages.
The Minister said Rs 50 crore was sanctioned for providing road connectivity to inaccessible villages under UPANTA (Unconnected People’s Accessibility in Tribal Area) scheme.
The government has decided to provide funds available under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) and schemes under Central Finance Commission (CFC)/State Finance Commission (SFC) for construction of roads of grade-II metalling standard to villages having a population of above 100 under the UPANTA scheme.
Under the Sampoorna Yojana ,a total of 5,525 villages in Odisha were identified as inaccessible, the Minister said and added that the main objective of this programme is to contain maternal and infant mortality.
Special VHND and Routine Immunization sessions are being held in inaccessible villages and Children and pregnant women found in critical condition are issued with Red Cards.
Provision of health check-up, treatment and consultation at their homes to pregnant women and children identified as critical during VHND and routine immunization by a multi-purpose health worker and multi-purpose health visitor.
The Minister said 4813 lightweight stretchers were provided to Gaon Kalyan Samitis as an alternative mode of transport to ferry pregnant women from inaccessible areas to the nearest place where vehicular communication is available.
A sum of Rs 1,000 has been provisioned as transport expenses to ferry a pregnant woman from an inaccessible area to the nearest place where vehicular communication is available or a government hospital.
The Minister said High Dependency Units (HDUs) have been made available at VIMSAR Burla, SCB Medical College, Keonjhar district headquarters hospital and Kandhamal district headquarters hospital for high standard child delivery management.
The specialised Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for treatment of children has been provided at VIMSAR Burla, Sishu Bhawan Cuttack, MKCG Medical College and Kandhamal district headquarters hospital and Capital Hospital.
