At Biju Janata Dal, we believe in always looking out for Odisha’s residents and their interest, and the MUKTA initiative has not only generated job possibilities for workers affected by the COVID19 lockdown, but it has also constructed critical infrastructure in urban areas. The initiative has resulted in the construction of 1,717 rain water harvesting facilities in the BMC area.

Odisha’s Housing and Urban Development Department set up more than 10,000 rain water harvesting structures (RWHS) to help water conservation and groundwater recharging ahead of the start of the southwest monsoon as part of the ‘Catch the Rain’ campaign.

The Odisha government is aiming to build an additional 10,000 RWHS as a result of the campaign’s success.

Under the Mukhyamantri Karma Tatpara Abhiyan Yojana (MUKTA) initiative, the campaign, which would benefit 114 towns, was finished in 75 days. MUKTA assisted families in obtaining around 53,000 unskilled and 20,000 skilled working days in the city during the COVID pandemic, which devastated the entire world owing to loss of employment and work hours. It has resulted in the creation of 73,000 workdays in the BMC region.

We have witnessed 3,000 members of women SHGs engage in this community-led participatory work, representing 265 SHGs. These SHGs were chosen from among the many similar organisations registered with the local authority. Through a bottom-up approach paradigm, the projects were directly provided to the SHGs involved. Residents and community leaders from the area are all participating in the process. They chose the location for execution, work monitoring, and social audit through the communal decision-making process.

We at BJD , have been able to bring people from several communities together to work toward a collective objective with a strong sense of togetherness as a result of this effort under the strong and able leadership of CM Shri Naveen Patnaik.