BHUBANESWAR: As Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik completed 19 years in office on Tuesday, he claimed to have fulfilled all the promises made by the ruling BJD in its election manifesto for 2014 elections.
The Chief Minister said this while presiding over the meeting of the Council of Ministers in the Secretariat which was telecast live on television channels for the first time. “The four-and-half crore people of Odisha is my family. We have fulfilled promises made to the people before the 2014 elections and will continue to do so in future also,” he said.
Stating that his Government has met the aspirations of women, youth, slum dwellers, farmers and different categories of people, the Chief Minister recalled that in the first meeting of Council of Ministers held after his party came to power for the fourth consecutive time in May 2014, the poll manifesto of the ruling BJD was accepted as the State Government’s agenda for next five years.
As per the promise made in the manifesto, all kachha houses will be converted to pucca houses, he said and added, “We have completed a record 20 lakh pucca houses.” All the houses with photograph of the beneficiaries and GPS location are available in the rural housing website of the Government, he said. The Chief Minister said the Government is continuing special initiatives for KBK. “In fact, Koraput and Balangir medical colleges are functional and Kalahandi medical college is under progress,” he said and added that more than 70 per cent of Biju Expressway, which was one of the biggest promises in the manifesto, is over and has been inaugurated.
Stating that the Government is providing universal health coverage through Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY), Naveen said free medicines, diagnosis and treatment are being provided from sub-centres to medical colleges. While BSKY provides upto ` five lakh health cover, in case of women it is ` seven lakh, he said.
Besides, the Government is providing food and social security for all, he said and added that loan for women self help groups (WSHGs) promised at one per cent is being given at zero per cent interest.
While reviewing performance of his Government, he also highlighted the newly-launched KALIA scheme. During the last 60 days, financial assistance to the tune of `1,600 crore has been disbursed to more than 32 lakh small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers through direct benefit transfer. Naveen also transferred financial assistance to another 4.8 lakh beneficiaries of KALIA scheme to their bank accounts. The second instalment of ` 5,000 each will be released on April 1 on Utkal Divas.