Odisha Cabinet on Saturday cleared a proposal to introduce the Odisha Development Authorities (Amendment) Bill, 2026 to amend the existing Odisha Development Authorities Act, 1982 for constituting Economic Region Development Authorities.
These Economic Region Development Authorities will be empowered to govern multi-district economic corridors, allowing the state government to seamlessly notify and establish future economic regions without the need to pass fresh legislative enactments every time.
Once the amendments are formally approved by the Odisha assembly, the state will constitute its first official City Economic Region: the Bhubaneswar-Kataka-Puri-Paradeep Economic Region (BKPPER).
Developed as a pilot project in collaboration with the federal think-tank NITI Aayog, BKPPER aims to integrate ports, industrial hubs, urban centers, logistics networks, and places of religious and cultural importance into a single, highly coordinated economic geography.
The Union Budget 2026-27 recently recognised BKPPER as one of four vital City Economic Regions in India poised to serve as engines of national economic growth, alongside Varanasi, Surat, and Vishakhapatnam.
Chief secretary Anu Garg said that regional master plans for these agglomerations will look beyond traditional municipal boundaries to leverage complementary economic potential, attract heavy investment, and improve overall public mobility and housing.
{{/usCountry}}Chief secretary Anu Garg said that regional master plans for these agglomerations will look beyond traditional municipal boundaries to leverage complementary economic potential, attract heavy investment, and improve overall public mobility and housing.
{{/usCountry}}Other planned agglomerations under this phased development include Bargarh-Jharsuguda-Sambalpur, Berhampur-Chhatrapur-Gopalpur, and Jeypore-Koraput-Sunabeda.
The Cabinet also approved the second phase of the state’s flagship tribal livelihood programme, the Mukhya Mantri Janajati Jeevika Mission (MMJJM 2.0) to target eight lakh Tribal and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) households, up from 1.5 lakh households in 13 districts in the first phase.
The expanded phase will span across 19 districts, encompassing 134 Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) and Micro Project Area (MPA) blocks, 23 Integrated Tribal Development Agencies (ITDAs), and 20 Micro Project Areas (MPAs).
The mission will be implemented over a five-year period, from 2026-27 to 2030-31, with a total financial outlay of ₹2,995 crore, fully funded by the state government. The government will provide financial assistance of ₹30,000 per household, transferred directly in two installments via the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system.
Under a beneficiary-centric model, each tribal household will have the flexibility to choose livelihood activities suited to their local resources. The programme supports a wide spectrum of activities, including agriculture, horticulture, livestock rearing, fisheries, sericulture, Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) value chains, traditional arts and crafts, handlooms, and rural entrepreneurship.
The mission would carve out dedicated interventions for PVTG communities, recognising their unique needs. These include vital nutritional support for children, pregnant, and lactating mothers, as well as the establishment of creche facilities. A special Flexi Fund of ₹500 crore has been provisioned to address specific infrastructure needs within PVTG habitations using a bottom-up planning approach.