Cuttack: The municipal corporation has started the process to select youths for Biju Yuva Vahini in all the 59 wards of the city.
Municipal commissioner Bikash Ranjan Mohapatra said it had already received applications and was in the process of selecting candidates for induction as members of the Biju Yuva Vahini.
"The scrutiny is under way as part of the selection process," Mohapatra said.
On March 14, the state cabinet approved the launch of Biju Yuva Vahini under Biju Shashtrikaran Yojana with an objective to nurture leadership and volunteerism, promote sports and sportsmanship and healthy living among youth. The government planned to recruit youths for 8,000 units of Biju Yuva Vahini in 6,800 gram panchayats and 120 urban local bodies to channelise their energy towards nation building.
The online process has started and one can apply to become a member if the person is in the age group of 15 to 35 and has cleared at least the matriculation exam.
Mohapatra said the civic body had received 3,037 applications and scrutiny of the applications started on Tuesday.
"The candidates are expected to produce documents in support of their applications in person," the municipal commissioner said.
Sources said no applications had been received from three of the 59 wards.
Mayor Meenakshee Behera said measures would be taken to select Biju Yuva Vahini members in the wards from where no applications had been received. "The whole idea is to promote youth towards volunteerism and encourage them to be a part of various social action projects and community engagement activities," she said.
"The programme would attempt to inculcate traits of good activities, develop leadership qualities, national character, comradeship among the youth," she added.
Sources said the sports and youth services department had allocated Rs 1.5 lakh annually to each ward to encourage the Biju Yuva Vahini for various social actions through awareness campaigns, street plays, observation of important days and camps.
Youths would also be encouraged to creatively involve in cultural programmes at ward level.
