Bhubaneswar, Feb. 27: The state government will ensure that people of the mining areas of the state get pucca houses, toilets and other basic amenities.

The government has earmarked Rs 869 crore for the socio-economic and peripheral development of the mining areas. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) today, which was chaired by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi.

The corporation was constituted in April 2014 following a Supreme Court order.

For the socio-economic development of the people of the mining belts, the government plans to construct pucca houses in all the villages.

"We will provide piped water to all these villages and take up plantation activities as well," said state forest and environment secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra.

According to the plan, the panchayati raj department will construct around 46,000 pucca houses in 523 villages of 29 blocks in eight districts, such as Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Koraput Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh at a cost of Rs 350 crore.

Most of the houses will come up in the mineral-rich Keonjhar (20,000 units) and Sundargarh (8,000 units) districts.

The corporation will also focus on sanitation and farm forestry. All the pucca houses will be completed by August.

The block development officer (BDO) will be entrusted with the task to ensure that houses are completed in time.

The corporation has also decided to spend funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for construction of toilets. Besides, Rs 350 crore will be spent for providing drinking water to the people of the mining belts.<>Development commissioner R. Balakrishnan, forest secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, steel and mines secretary Raj Kumar Sharma, rural development secretary Pradeepta Kumar Mohapatra, panchayati raj secretary Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh and other senior officials were present in the meeting.