Implement projects in shortest possible time, Naveen tells senior officers

Bureau,Odishabarta

Bhubaneswar: Emphasising the need for the implementation of development projects in the shortest possible time, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said there should be a competition among districts for the realisation of goals so as to set benchmark for others.

Inaugurating the two-day senior officers conference being held after a gap of two years, Patnaik, who is at the helm of Odisha’s administration for the past 23 years, said Odisha has been at the forefront of many states for its transformative initiatives.

“Sports, healthcare, school transformation, women empowerment, skill development, crop production, Covid management are some of the sectors that attract special mention,” Patnaik said.

Hailing his government’s initiative like 5Tteam work, technology, transparency and time for transformationand ‘Mo Sarkar’- the feedback-based governance model that was launched after Patnaik’s BJD stormed back to power for fifth conservative time in 2019, the chief minister said that these initiatives have brought about transformative governance and have enhanced our people’s outreach programmes.

Patnaik asked the district collectors and senior officers of the district administrations to reach out to more and more people, find out issues of concern and use technology to sort them out in a faster, simple, and hassle-free manner.

To revitalise the rural economy of Odisha where more than 80 per cent of people depend on agriculture and allied sectors, Patnaik asked officers to focus more on farm mechanisation, crop diversification, horticulture and floriculture, dairy development, and fisheries.

“Our ‘Millet Mission’ has now been taken up nationally to improve nutrition. This sector has the potential. We need to continue to excel in agriculture and allied sectors as they provide maximum employment to people in rural areas,” said the chief minister.

Reiterating that women empowerment is at the core of all the initiatives of the government, Patnaik said his government intended to transform the ‘Mission Shakti’ groups into “small and medium enterprises” with support like providing interest-free loans to flourish their livelihood units.

“We have a target to provide Rs 50,000 crore to our Mission Shakti Groups in the next five years. Collectors are required to provide all possible support to Mission Shakti Groups to realise this objective,” said Patnaik.

CM Patnaik also sought special attention from district collectors and other senior officers for effective implementation of some of his government’s flagship programmes such as ‘Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana’, and ‘School Transformation’, tourism promotion, startup promotion and sports infrastructure development.

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