Bhubaneswar: Senior mandarins of the State have now commenced intensive district visits across Odisha to personally oversee the implementation of various welfare and infrastructure initiatives. Directed by the Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary, Shri Deoranjan Kumar Singh, these senior officers are allotted specific districts to visit at least once during the January to March 2026 period for a duration of two to three days. The officers are encouraged to spend at least one night in the district or subdivisional headquarters to gain a deeper understanding of local administrative challenges.
The primary focus of these administrative visits includes the supervision of important people-oriented schemes and centrally sponsored programs to ensure effective public service delivery. There is a specific mandate to inspect long-pending mega drinking water projects and ensure the early completion of piped water supply initiatives that provide functional household tap connections to rural populations. To gain authentic feedback, officers are required to interact with the public, including patients in health centers, beneficiaries in Anganwadi centers, and students in tribal schools and hostels.
A unique requirement of this programme is that officers must have at least one meal a day on a payment basis in an ST/SC hostel, a school mid-day meal center, an Aahar Kendra, or an orphanage. This is intended to allow them to check both the quality of the food and the overall ambience while interacting with students and inmates regarding basic facilities and security. Furthermore, officials are tasked with checking the constitution of Internal Complaint Committees in all government offices and educational institutions to ensure a safe environment for women and girl students.
In the state’s eight major mining districts, such as Angul and Keonjhar, officers are reviewing the utilization of funds under the District Mineral Foundation and OMBADC. Special attention is also being given to 40 designated aspirational blocks and various aspirational districts to monitor the progress of developmental benchmarks. Following these field visits, which may involve traveling on foot to reach inaccessible tribal areas, officers convene meetings with District Collectors to address strategic issues that require state-level follow-up. All findings must be uploaded to the Par-e-darshan portal for review by the Chief Secretary.