10 lakh hectare additional irrigation by April ’19: CM

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday told the state legislative assembly that the state government is working to create additional irrigation facilities in the state and plans to set new targets by the end of April 2019.
The CM was speaking in his thanksgiving speech against the statement of the Governor. He said, “We launched KALIA…widely appreciated in the country and the Centre adopted the scheme. However the Centre has left out the share croppers, landless labourers. We had promised additional 10 lakh hectares of irrigation and we are on target to achieve the same by April 2019.”
The CM also claimed that the state would closely monitor the intents of the Make in Odisha Conclave. He said, “Make in Odisha Conclave 2018 was a grand success. The leading industry captains had participated in it. Investment intents to the tune of Rs 4.20 lakh crore have potential to generate employment for 5.91 lakh were received. We will closely follow up these intents for early grounding of the projects.”
The CM, during his speech in the assembly, said that the pro-people initiative of Ama Gaon Ama Bikash has been completed in all the 314 Blocks, 62,857 projects amounting to Rs 1554 crore have been sanctioned by the government. The government also boasted that because of the slew of initiatives taken up by the government, Odisha became the first state to double the income of farmers in real terms.
Naveen claimed that with the addition of 5 lakh new beneficiaries under the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana in this year, pension is now being provided to over 48 lakh persons of the state. The monthly rate of pension has also been enhanced by Rs 200 per month, he said.On the other hand while the CM spoke at large about the achievements of the government in the past
few years, disruptions marred the functioning of the state
assembly for the third consecutive day.