To encourage district collectors to undertake welfare schemes, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced cash incentives for districts for successful implementation of various programmes launched by the state government. "The best district in the disbursement of incentives for rural pucca houses would receive a cash award of Rs 1 crore while one best model gram panchayat selected in each of the 30 districts would receive a cash award of Rs 50 lakh. The best district in terms of providing electricity to BPL households would also receive a cash award of Rs 1 crore," Patnaik announced on the second day of the ongoing Collectors Conference. [related-post] Watch Video: What's making news Similarly, Patnaik announced that the best district for overall tribal welfare would receive a cash award of Rs 1 crore while the best district in implementation of welfare package for construction workers would also receive a cash award Rs 1 crore. The best district in skill development in employment generation would receive a cash award Rs one crore, Patnaik said adding that the best district on credit linkage to women self–help groups (SHGs) would receive a cash award Rs 1 crore. Stating that this will promote healthy competition among the districts to do good work for the people, Patnaik said his government wanted to ensure social security for all the people. He said four million old, destitute, widows and differently-abled persons had been covered by different pension schemes. Patnaik said his government planned an additional three lakh pensions to cover the left-out eligible persons under these categories during the current year. "I have instructed the collectors to ensure inclusion of these additional beneficiaries by August this year," Patnaik told reporters. Patnaik also felicitated collectors of Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur and Khurda districts with cash awards for their remarkable performance. While the Mayurbhanj collector got the first prize with a cash award of Rs 20 lakh for better performance on food processing activities, Nabarangpur and Khurda collectors won the second and third prize of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for their efforts in anti-superstition campaigns and eye care programmes, respectively.
