BHUBANESWAR: Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India met with several (Self-Help Group) SHG members in Bhubaneswar and Puri during a visit to Odisha for the Association of Water Supply and Sanitation Organizations’ (AWSSAR) launch event. He praised Mission Shakti SHGs and transgender groups for their active participation in the state’s urban development and livelihood generation programmes.
The Secretary was pleased to see how the women SHGs have expanded their operations in order to generate more income and a better standard of living. He praised the State Urban Development Agency’s (SUDA) efforts to transform the lives of underprivileged women and ensure their social and economic empowerment by scaling up and partnering with them. Mishra emphasised the importance of connecting the SHGs to pan-India e-commerce platforms such as Amazon in order to emerge as a leading example of urban poverty alleviation (under Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission) in the country.
After interacting with the transgender group members engaged in collection of parking fees in Bhubaneswar and Jal Sathis involved in 24X7 drinking water supply in Puri, Mishra stated that it was encouraging to see Odisha set a precedent for empowering women and communities in the delivery of urban utility services.