Collector treks 3km to Kotia, reviews development work

Koraput: In a major outreach initiative, Koraput collector Manoj Satyawan Mahajan on Saturday trekked nearly 3 km through the hilly terrain of Kotia gram panchayat under Pottangi block to review ongoing development and livelihood activities in the remote border region.Kotia, situated along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border, has remained at the centre of a six-decade-old legal dispute between the two states over the ownership of 21 of its 28 villages. Against this backdrop, the district administration has intensified efforts in recent years to strengthen infrastructure, education, and sustainable livelihood opportunities in the area.During the visit, Mahajan inspected several livelihood projects being implemented for tribal communities. He reviewed chamomile and strawberry cultivation, hill broom cultivation and processing, and the tamarind processing unit aimed at promoting value addition and enhancing income generation.Greater emphasis is being laid on the sustainable economic development of Kotia residents alongside infrastructure strengthening. Several initiatives have been taken up for the economic uplift of the people in the panchayat, Mahajan said.The collector also interacted with beneficiaries to assess the progress of the projects and understand challenges at the grassroots level. “Our priority is to ensure sustainable livelihood opportunities for people of Kotia. The focus is on income generation through locally suitable crops and value addition activities,” he added, stressing the need for improved marketing linkages and capacity building to ensure better returns for farmers and SHGs.Later, Mahajan visited Kotia High School and Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya (OAV), Kotia, where he reviewed academic infrastructure and discussed development initiatives with school authorities. Interacting with students, he encouraged them to focus on education and make full use of govt schemes. “Education is the strongest tool for transformation. Students from Kotia must dream big and work hard to achieve their goals,” he said. He was accompanied by BDO (Pottangi) Ramnath Nayak and other district-level officials.