Berhampur University to develop 10 villages with NIRD help

BERHAMPUR: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for the model village for all round development, the Berhampur University (BU) on Saturday officially identified 10 villages in southern Odisha for the pupose.
These villages are Laxmipur and Dharampur (Ganjam), B Sitapur and Kharidhepa (Gajapati), Banamaliput and Old Sunabeda (Koraput), Antarigada (Rayagada), Paburia (Kandhamal), Dandiaguda (Malkangiri) and Jatiguda (Nabarangapur).
The tribal-dominated places will be developed into model villages in association with National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad.
A high-level meeting was held in the university to discuss different aspects of the proposed model villages. Director general of NIRD M V Rao, vice-chancellor Deepak Kumar Behera, bankers and programme officers of National Service Scheme (NSS) attended it.
"NSS volunteers will be identified in the villages in collaboration with the local administration. Awareness in these villages will be created on issues such as sanitation, health, plantation, literacy and water conservation, said the vice-chancellor.
"We will work like facilitators. We will talk to the district administration and bankers to fill the gaps in development. We will also provide skill development training to local youths to develop rural enterprises," said Rao. The NIRD would extend assistance for next three years, he added.
He said NIRD has been working in 50 villages of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha for the last one and half years .