[India] Patnaik highlights poverty on I-Day in Orissa

from The Hindustan Times

As rain pelted down on Tuesday, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik unfurled the tricolour at the state's Independence Day celebrations in Bhubaneswar and spoke of his government's initiatives for the benefit of the poor.

Thousands listened to the speech in Bhubaneswar as Patnaik, speaking in Oriya, detailed the package to improve the conditions of farmers, as well as other poor, downtrodden and weaker sections.

"My government has announced a package for farmers recently," he said, adding that farmers would be given land passbooks soon. Besides, the state government would set up seed centres in each panchayat.

There are also plans to dig about 50,000 bore wells to provide irrigation to 35 per cent of the agricultural land, he said.

Patnaik blamed the Central Government for reducing assistance to the KBK (Kalahandi, Koraput and Bolangir), known as the most impoverished region in the state.

Recalling the contribution of his father, the late Biju Patnaik, he said: "Biju babu had launched a long term action plan (LTAP) to develop the KBK. The Central Government has recently decided to reduce the amount of assistant to this project.

"The state government has plans to provide Rs 6 billion for the development of KBK with a new scheme called Biju KBK Yojana."

Discussing the overall development of the state, Patnaik said the state had received investment proposals of Rs 4 trillion for projects in various sectors. Once completed, these projects would boost state revenue and generate employment.