Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday inaugurated special-development councils for nine tribal-dominated districts to ensure their active participation in the decision making process.

The nine districts are Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur.

These councils will chalk out plans and programmes for 117 blocks in the tribal-dominated districts for which Rs 1.5 crore each will be spent every year. These councils will take up cultural, educational and economic development in harmony with the unique identity and ethos of the local people.

Stating that the state government would spend Rs 175 crore every year in the nine districts, Naveen said: "Funds will be no problem for tribal development."

Nearly 14 lakh tribal families, including those belonging to endangered primitive tribes, will be benefited.

"These councils will have representations from every tribe present in the district. They will have decision making powers and financial resources to preserve, promote, develop their unique socio-cultural identities and economic capacities," he said.

The move is aimed at wooing tribals, who form 22 per cent of the state's population. There are 62 tribal groups in the state and 13 of these belong to vulnerable primitive groups. They are spread over 44 per cent of the state's geographical area and constitute 10 per cent of the country's tribal population.

On July 26, the cabinet had decided to set up the special development councils. Subsequently, steps were initiated to form the councils. On Friday, the councils were formally launched. Development commissioner R. Balakrishnan described Odisha as the "wonderland of pluralism" where there are 21 languages, 75 tribal dialects and seven scripts.

Chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said with the establishment of special councils, holistic development of tribals would gather momentum.

At present, there are integrated tribal development agencies, district planning committees, zilla parishads and panchayati raj institutions at the grassroots level for chalking out development plans. But the nine special development councils will be exclusively for tribal development.