MUKTA scheme bags WRI Ross Centre Prize for Cities

Bhubaneswar: In a global recognition for “MUKTA” – the urban wage employment scheme under the 5T initiative, the Housing & Urban Development department of the state government is selected as one of the winners of the 2021-2022 World Resources Institute (WRI), Ross Centre Prize for Cities.

The winners were announced at Prize for Cities event held at the Ford Foundation Centre for Social Justice in New York City on February 1.
Principal secretary, Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department G. Mathi Vathanan received the International Award in the special event organised in New York.

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The award, administered by an international jury, selected “MUKTA” as a winner through a competitive process from amongst 260 applications from 155 cities in 65 countries. The Prize for Cities is WRI’s Urban Transformation Award recognising the leaders creating more sustainable and inclusive cities worldwide.

The award acknowledged MUKTA’s innovative approach to respond to uncertainty, disruption and crisis by creating large-scale jobs for the urban poor, informal and migrant labourers by engaging them in development works as a mechanism for cities to live and thrive in turbulent times.
Till date, 7 lakh urban poor and migrant workers across Odisha’s 114 cities have been engaged in 22,500 community-level development works worth Rs 208 crore, which includes paved roads, drains, rainwater harvesting, community centres, plantation, water bodies rejuvenation and public space development.

Besides, 5,368 Mission Shakti Groups and 438 slum dwellers associations have also been engaged as implementation partners under the scheme.