President Draupadi Murmu’s visit to her in-laws’ village Pahadpur under the Rairangpur subdivision in Mayurbhanj district has ushered in a new chapter for the people of this tiny village.

At Pahadpur, Murmu set up a high school “SLS School” in 2016 to impart education to tribal boys and girls. And now with Murmu at the helm of affairs, industrial houses and government organisations have come up with schemes to bring about a change in the livelihood of the people of the area. The roads have already been widened in the area.

During her visit to Pahadpur on Thursday, Murmu launched a Tribal Development Project and laid the foundation stone for L&T Skill Training Hub. The project of Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) will touch the lives of 100 tribal families of Pahadpur and another 400 families from the adjoining villages. “The aim of the project is to increase the annual income of each family to Rs 1 lakh from one acre of land. Mango and cashew plantation is proposed to be taken up in the project area. An amount of Rs 5.16 crore is being provided by Nabard as grant assistance for the implementation of the project,” said a press release of Nabard.

Nabard has also sanctioned Rs 10 lakh to upgrade the livelihood of women from Pahadpur village who are members of Self Help Groups (SHGs). Under the project, training and capacity-building skills will be provided to the women for taking up mushroom cultivation. Nabard will also set up a community centre. All these activities will be uplifting the economic condition of the people of Pahadpur.

Similarly, L&T has partnered with SLS Trust managed by Murmu’s close associates to establish the skill training hub on five acres of land for providing underprivileged youth from the region training in construction skills, and in turn, make them self-reliant.

The skill training hub will have an administrative-cum-institute building, multipurpose hall, e-learning hall, digital training room, separate hostels of 120 each for boys and girls, dining halls, four practice yards for masonry, bar bending, plumbing and scaffolding trades, and a dedicated workshop for practising pipe welding.

As per the provisions of an MoU signed with SLS Trust, L&T will establish and run the skill training hub for five years, and after this, it will be taken over by the SLS Trust. The handing over process will start in the fourth year.

Training programmes at the skill training hub will focus on masonry, bar bending, scaffolding, plumbing, pipe welding, and digital skills. Funded by L&T under its CSR initiatives, the project will cost around Rs 15 crore, which includes the operational expenses for four years.

The Mayurbhanj district is likely to benefit as several industrial houses have also planned to set up their industries there. The Centre is also planning to set up the first tribal university in Mayurbhanj. “Many projects are in the pipeline,” said a senior official.

The President on Friday visited Similipal national park. Her visit to Similipal was the first by any President of India. She will attend the convocation of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanj Deo University at Baripada before leaving for Delhi on Saturday.