530 watershed projects under OTELP

BHUBANESWAR: With the Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme (OTELP) entering the second phase, the Government on Thursday decided to take up 530 watershed projects with an investment of Rs 556 crore.While the livelihood support programme was implemented in 30 blocks of seven districts, this has been extended to another 30 blocks of the districts under OTELP Plus programme.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the progress of the externally-aided project at a meeting on Thursday. He was informed that irrigation facilities had been created in 12,175 hectares of land and cultivable land increased by 19 per cent.In the first phase, 135 micro watershed structures have been made functional. According to the annual outcome survey report of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), food security situation has improved in 52 per cent households while migration has been reduced from 17 to 9 per cent. Dependency on private moneylenders too has drastically fallen from 37 to 14 per cent over the last year.Project interventions have boosted primary sectors like agriculture, livestock, short-term employment in allied sectors and improved cash flow to the families, the report said.The assessment done by IFAD through independent enumerators revealed that 90 per cent of the people  involved in the programme have got wage employment.The livelihood programme is implemented in 30 backward blocks of Koraput, Kalahandi, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Nabarangpur and Rayagada districts in phases. The phase-1 programme is scheduled to close in 12 blocks of Gajapati, Kalahandi, Koraput and Kandhamal in 2012. The phase-II operation has started in 1,038 villages involving 56,180 households. Although it was planned to develop 358 micro watersheds in the project areas, the meeting was informed that a total of 530 projects had been taken up. The meeting further decided to intensify coffee cultivation in Koraput district, orange cultivation in Gajapati district and turmeric in Kandhamal district. Since there is huge potential to develop mini and micro hydro-electricity projects in Kalahandi and Malkangiri districts, the meeting decided to explore the opportunities.