Odisha: Roopa Roshan Sahoo appointed member secretary of PHDMA

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday appointed Roopa Roshan Sahoo as Member Secretary of Poverty and Human Development Monitoring Agency (PHDMA).

Sahoo was Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister.

The new assignment will be in addition to her current responsibilities, a notification issued by the General Administration and Public Grievance Department said.

The 2006 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer was given the additional charge amid the state government’s efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak, an official said.

The government is planning to give PHDMA, an autonomous agency under the Planning and Convergence Department, a boost, he said.

PHDMAs mandate is to work for strengthening poverty and human development monitoring systems and formulating pro-poor programmes and projects, the official said.

With the battle against COVID-19 expected to continue for long, the state government wants to effectively track poverty reduction and document important processes, he said.

It might also go for agreements with different agencies, including international organisations, to scale up its activities, the official added.

(PTI)