Keonjhar/Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 330 development projects worth Rs 1,292 crore in Keonjhar, spanning education, healthcare, technology, roads and civic infrastructure.The projects included the launch of the third phase of the Godabarish Mishra Model Primary School Scheme covering 630 schools across Odisha, inauguration of Dharanidhar University’s south campus and the state’s first indigenous technology-based preventive cancer screening centre and the foundation-laying for a Rs 237-crore tech business park.Of the 330 projects, the CM inaugurated 198 worth around Rs 412 crore and laid foundation stones for 132 projects valued at more than Rs 880 crore.Under the third phase of the model primary school scheme, 630 schools, including 35 in Keonjhar district, will be developed at an estimated cost of nearly Rs 4,000 crore. With these, 952 model schools have now been taken up in three phases. The govt plans to spend nearly Rs 12,000 crore on 2,200 schools between 2025-26 and 2028-29.Majhi said the scheme was a dream project close to his heart and stressed that strengthening primary education was critical to improving children’s future prospects. The model schools, to be developed on around five acres each at a cost of Rs 5 crore to Rs 8 crore, will have modern classrooms, digital tools and sports facilities.The CM also inaugurated the Rs 14-crore south campus of Dharanidhar University and laid the foundation stone for a 15-storey tech business park. The facility, spread over 5.51 acres and estimated to cost Rs 237 crore, is aimed at generating employment opportunities for youths in north Odisha.“Youngsters from Keonjhar will no longer need to move to Bengaluru or Hyderabad in search of opportunities as new avenues for employment and growth are opening up closer home,” Majhi added.At Dharanidhar Medical College, the CM inaugurated the state’s first indigenous technology-based preventive cancer screening centre, developed with DMF support at a cost of around Rs 6 crore. Services at the centre will be provided free.He also laid foundation stones for a seven-storeyed dental college costing Rs 58.40 crore and a 10-storeyed nursing college, estimated at Rs 63 crore, and announced that a govt pharmacy college would soon be established in Keonjhar.A Rs 10-crore mother and child health department building, a Rs 32-crore modular operation theatre complex, a multi-utility centre, police outpost and a 30-bed barrack were among the other facilities inaugurated.The CM also rolled out free national common mobility cards for students for bus travel and handed over cards to students of Dharanidhar University. Twenty-three new ambulances funded by DMF were also deployed in the district.Besides, 26 sanitation vehicles and equipment, including LCVs, tractors, sprinklers and cesspool vehicles, were provided to Keonjhar, Joda and Barbil municipalities. Majhi said road-widening projects to improve connectivity to Keonjhar and a ring road at Barbil had also been taken up.Referring to his association with his home district, Majhi said that while he might be the CM of Odisha, for the people of Keonjhar he remained the same old “Mohan bhai” and would continue to serve his birthplace.The CM said the govt had introduced Shishu Vatika in more than 45,000 schools, extended midday meals and free textbooks to students of Classes IX and X, and appointed 28,639 teachers over the past two-and-a-half years.School and mass education minister Nityananda Gond said the model school initiative would strengthen primary education and provide children, particularly in rural and tribal areas, access to modern classrooms, digital learning and sports facilities.