Bhubaneswar, 01 April (H.S.): The Government of Odisha on Wednesday constituted District Planning Committees (DPCs) for all 30 districts, appointing ministers and MLAs as chairpersons to strengthen decentralised planning and development at the grassroots level.

According to an official notification, several senior leaders have been assigned responsibility for overseeing planning processes and ensuring effective implementation of development programmes in their respective districts. Among the key appointments, Ashok Mohanty has been assigned Angul, Laxman Bag will head Bolangir, Padmalochan Panda has been given charge of Balasore, and Ashwini Kumar Sarangi will oversee Bargarh.

Sitanshu Sekhar Mohapatra will lead Bhadrak, while Kanhai Charan Dang has been appointed for Boudh. Chhabi Mallick will head Cuttack, and Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari has been assigned Deogarh. Simarani Nayak will oversee Dhenkanal, while Works Minister Prithviraj Harichandan has been given responsibility for Gajapati district.

In addition, Purna Chandra Sethi has been appointed for Ganjam and Amarendra Das for Jagatsinghpur. The government has also designated chairpersons for the remaining districts, including Keonjhar, Khurda, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Puri, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, and Sundargarh.

The initiative aims to decentralise the planning process and enhance coordination between rural and urban local bodies in preparing district-level development plans. Officials stated that the DPCs will play a crucial role in aligning local priorities with the state’s broader development agenda.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda