Tusharkanti Behera, an engineer-turned MLA has now been entrusted upon with the task of being the minister of Information Technology (IT) department and Sports and Youth Affairs department. In an interview to Orissa POST, Behera speaks about his vision of boosting the sports culture in the state and also spoke on other important issues. Excerpts:
What would be the top priorities for your departments?
Many reputed companies have come to Odisha. I will try my best to see how big reputed companies could come to Bhubaneswar. Besides, I will also try to ensure that other smaller towns, other than the state capital, see the expansion of Software Technology Park. Also, smaller companies will be accommodated and encouraged to invest in the state.
Many states became IT hubs but Odisha failed to tap the potential. What, according to you, are the reasons behind this?
Establishments in cities like Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad started a long time ago. Climate is also a good reason for transforming these cities to IT hubs. However, climates of Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar are almost similar. We are trying our best to see how to make Odisha conducive to attract more IT companies. As far as Wipro is concerned, its BPO works from Odisha but technical works are more concentrated in Bengal.
What is your take on CM’s call to ministers to give monthly progress reports?
For the progress of the state our Chief Minister believes in transformation which means to act in a time bound matter. We have been instructed to give the progress report by the end of 7th of every month. I have planned to clear all the pending work, review the ongoing works and report accordingly to the Chief Minister. It is a good step towards good
governance.
You were earlier with BJP but jumped onto the BJD bandwagon just before the polls. What prompted you to do so?
The ticket declaration from Kakatpur seat took place in March while I joined in April. My ground reports and interaction with the people revealed that people were unhappy with the BJP governance as they realised that the promises made by the BJP government in the 2014 manifesto were not fulfilled. I found people have faith in Naveen Patnaik and I found him doing a great job in governing the state.
What are the local issues in your constituency that you would like to tackle and solve?
Many parts of my area are deprived of safe drinking water. Salinity in natural water is a big issue. I am committed to solving the issue. Improving the standards of hospitals in my area and improving the strength of the medical staff there would also be in my priority list.