There was a meeting held at IIE, Guwahati on 18 th Sept 2024, where the progress of Dhenkanal Tuber Crop Processing Cluster and Lamka Spices and Oleoresin Cluster was reviewed. IIE, Guwahati is the Nodal Agency and KIIT-TBI is the Technical Agency for these two clusters. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Lalit Mohan Sharma, Director of IIE, with representatives from the Nodal Agency, Mr. Santanu Deka, Sr. Professor, and Mr. Rajib Lochan Pathak, Consultant. The TA was represented by Mr. Debashis Tripathy, Sr. Manager. The meeting was also attended online by other members of technical Agency – Mr. Barada Sahoo, Manager, Mr. Manoranjan Maharana, Cluster Network Associate, and Ms. Subhasmita Sahoo, Young Professional. The meeting was attended by Mr. Dipti Ranjan Biswal, the representative of the Dhenkanal cluster’s Implementing Agency, and Mr. Siam, representative of the Lamka cluster’s Implementing Agency (who joined online).
The progress of these two clusters have been very slow despite lapse of considerable time from their date of approval. Although the civil construction of Dhenkanal cluster has been completed for quite some time (almost a year), the cluster has been at a standstill because of lack of understanding between the Implementing Agency and the SPV. It was decided after hearing both the Implementing Agency and the SPV (whose representative participated online) that the SPV would be reconstituted to facilitate necessary coordination between the SPV and the IA. The representative of the IA also assured that he would take the necessary steps to reconstitute the SPV at an early date for addressing the current impasse in the progress of the cluster.
In case of the Lamka cluster, although the RCC structure of the CFC is over for quite some time, the progress relating to the PEB structure has been adversely affected because of the continuing unrest in Manipur. It was decided that the remaining construction work would be continued through “Community Construction” mode to facilitate completion of the remaining work.
In view of the cost escalation of the proposed machines specified in the DPR of Lamka cluster, which would be a constraining factor for participation of the suppliers, it was decided that the TA in collaboration with the IA would have a relook at the available alternatives for restructuring the machine and output specification in the DPR at an early date