By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: With elections round the corner, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday launched the first phase of his government’s ambitious programme – ‘Ama Odisha Naveen Odisha’ with the aim of strengthening the administrative infrastructure and building a strong Odisha. The programme, which will focus on every panchayat and every village in the state, was launched via virtual mode in Keonjhar and Bhadrak districts today.
A sum of Rs 3,397 crore will be spent for the ‘Ama Odisha Naveen Odisha’ programme across the state and it will cover 6,794 panchayats. As many as 90,723 projects will be implemented under the programme across the state. Each village will get Rs 10 lakh.
Under this programme, Jagannath culture will be implemented and digital infrastructure will be developed in each village. This will be the basic foundation for building an ambitious Odisha. A new Odisha will spread its wings and build ‘Ama Odisha Naveen Odisha’ to tap into the broad spectrum of modern technology from Odisha’s strong cultural base.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “Odisha is the land of Jagannath. Love, peace, harmony, equality and service are the messages of Jagannath culture. Irrespective of caste, religion, and community, Odisha has made everyone its own. The ‘Ama Odisha Naveen Odisha’ programme will preserve the Jagannath culture in every village. Every place of worship will be developed and heritage sites will be preserved.” The Chief Minister said that the preservation and protection of these cultural and heritage sites is essential for future generations.
Patnaik further said that the development of digital infrastructure in villages is one of the objectives of this scheme. Internet connection will be available in the villages, which will have science parks and skill development centres. While banking facilities will be available in every village, the primary schools of the villages will also be involved in this programme. It will bring immense opportunities to the youth, society, women, the farmer brothers and sisters, and students and will be able to further enhance the identity of Odisha as a modern, strong, progressive and culturally conscious state. “The foundation of this new Odisha will be strong,” the Chief Minister said and wished everyone would cooperate in the successful implementation of the ‘Ama Odisha Naveen Odisha’ programme.
A huge crowd gathered from six constituencies of Keonjhar and five constituencies of Bhadrak at today’s programme. The government has sanctioned Rs 148.5 crore for the Ama Odisha Naveen Odisha programmes for 3,568 projects in the 297 gram panchayats of the six constituencies of Keonjhar, while Rs 109 crore has been sanctioned for 3,337 projects in 218 gram panchayats in the five Assembly constituencies of Bhadrak district.
5T Secretary VK Pandian coordinated the event. Public representatives from different constituencies in each district, including MLAs, District Council Presidents, members, and local Sarpanch participated in the virtual discussion and praised the Chief Minister for the launch of the new development programme in the villages.
People said that there is a smile on the faces of the poor and neglected people today due to the welfare programmes launched by the Chief Minister. The visit of the 5T Secretary, the development in the district has improved and the problems that have been pending for many days have also been resolved.
Participating in the discussion, 5T Secretary Pandian said that the Chief Minister is always quick to solve the problems of the local areas. He has given strict orders to work for the development of every village in Odisha. After his visit, Pandian informed about the projects sanctioned by the Chief Minister for various regions. The Chief Minister has sanctioned funds for the ‘Ama Odisha, Naveen Odisha’ programme considering the proposed projects and needs of the people. He advised everyone to them on time.
The District Magistrates of both districts expressed their thanks to the Chief Minister at the end of the programme.
The vision of the intervention is to transform Odisha to modern and aspirational Odisha retaining the essence, soul and spirit of Jagannath culture and spreading over to the world. Odisha is the Land that gave Jagannath Culture to the world and a culture that is based on universal love, service and equality.
The main objective of the scheme is to provide missing links to the existing small and essential projects and development of infrastructure. Also achieving empowerment of women, youth, bridging critical gap in education, digital and sports facilities, such as improvement of infrastructure for primary education and also providing missing links to the existing development infrastructure, construction, modernization and expansion works, creating additional facilities for Mission Shakti Groups at GP level, bridging critical gaps at GP level to improve rural areas by way of providing urban facilities, development of sports facilities for the youth, providing banking facilities and improvement of digital access in terms of mobile connectivity, optical fibre connectivity, WiFi and internet connectivity.
