Odisha: Sundargarh, Angul dists to get Kendriya Vidyalayas

BHUBANESWAR: The Board of the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a public sector undertaking, has approved the setting up of a Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) each at Basundhara in Sundargarh district and Talcher Coalfields in Angul.
In a letter to Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, state coal and mines minister Pralhad Joshi confirmed this information. Pradhan had requested Joshi in September last year to set up KVs in these areas for the benefit of the children of these districts.
In fact, Pradhan had received letters from Sundargarh MP Jual Oram, Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo, and Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari seeking the establishment of three MCL-sponsored KVs in Sundargarh, Angul, and Jharsuguda districts.The gross enrolment ratio at the primary level of the three districts is below the national average.
In his letter to Joshi, the petroleum minister had said MCL’s extensive presence in the mining and industrial belts of Odisha is cherished by the people of the state. “It would be most apt of MCL to extend its management prowess in undertaking welfare activities for people living around its operational areas. I understand that there is an existing provision for the establishment of KVs funded by central public sector enterprises like MCL,” he had written in the letter.
On September 20 last year, he had requested Joshi to establish KVs in the three districts for the benefit of the residents of the operational areas of MCL and the wards of the MCL staff. Before this on April 22, Joshi had sent a letter to Pradhan in the same connection.