Bhubaneswar: Many challenges are awaiting the ministers of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s new team who were sworn-in Wednesday.
Energy and Industries Department
Cyclone Fani had inflicted huge damage on the state’s power infrastructure and many places in the city are still struggling to get normal electricity supply. The Energy department is facing the possibility of power shortage and poor distribution infrastructure. It will be a huge task for the new minister to restore normalcy in the energy sector.
Dibya Shankar Mishra, the new Minister for Energy, Industries, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises said, “I will try my best to rescue the city from power outages. This will be my top priority. I will try to create a plan after discussing the matter with senior officials of my department.”
Challenges
An Assocham report says the state’s industrial parameters like gross value added in manufacturing industries, return on capital, operating ratios etc are weak. This will be another task for the new Minister.
Electronics & Information Technology, Sports & Youth Services Department
Tusharkanti Behera, Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Sports & Youth Services Department, said, “Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had reposed huge faith in me by considering my academic qualifications, and I will try to create an identity for Odisha in technical brilliance.”
The decision to hand over the department to an IITian is a sensible one, but including a department like Sports along with it is risky as Odisha is scheduled to host some important tournaments in coming days.
Instead of separating the Electronics & Information Technology and Development department and the Technical Education department it could have been clubbed together.
Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water, Law, Housing & Urban Development
Pratap Jena, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water, Law, Housing & Urban Development Minister, said, “I am blessed, confident and grateful to be sworn-in as a Cabinet Minister. I thank the CM and the people of my constituency, Mahanga, for keeping faith in me. I will work with dedication for the people.”
The allocation of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department and the Housing & Urban Development department to a single minister defies logic. As the recent Swachh Sarvekshan revealed acute gaps in civic governance in state towns, the clubbing of two major departments will in no way deliver efficient administration. For urban development, a state does need fulltime ministers.
Health & Family Welfare
Health & Family Welfare Minister Naba Das said, “I will try to hire more doctors. The distribution of Health Cards to beneficiaries will be looked after.”
Challenges
The most important job in the department will be to make healthcare easy for the poor people of Odisha and to ensure availability of adequate doctors in public hospitals.
Agriculture and Higher Education
Agriculture and Higher Education Minister Arun Sahoo said, “The Agriculture department has always done well, and I will try to continue to do that under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen. The target of KALIA beneficiaries has been increased to 75 lakh farmer families, 33 lakh more than the existing 42 lakh. A proposal has been approved to provide Rs 1,000 crore worth government business to women SHGs.”
Challenges
In higher education, Odisha is lagging behind in indicators like higher secondary pass rate and none of its universities figure in the top-100 list nationally.