Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has taken a lot of measures to realize the dream of his father and former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik. Starting from strengthening the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) to the empowerment of women, Naveen has taken many landmark decisions.
While Biju had introduced 33 per cent reservation of seats in PRI for women, his son and present Chief Minister reserved 50 per cent seats in the panchayati raj system for women. Taking it a step forward, now, he is fighting at the national level for 33 per cent reservation of seats for women in Lok Sabha and Assemblies.
For strengthening the panchayats, Naveen Patnaik has enhanced their allocations and provided a lot of funds for creation of critical infrastructure through Ama Gaon, Ama Bikash programme. During Covid-19 pandemic, he has given Collector’s power to sarpanches for effective management and it was successful also.
His government is also committed to translating Biju Babu’s industrial dreams into reality. Introducing investor-friendly policy measures, his government has been able to attract over Rs 1.2 lakh crore investments even during the pandemic. On the eve of Biju’s birth anniversary, the state government has also signed an MoU for setting up an integrated steel plant in Keonjhar with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore, which itself is a milestone in industrialization in Odisha.
Moreover, he has decided to bring the Dakota aircraft of the legendary leader from Kolkata airport to Odisha.
On this day in 2000, Naveen had taken oath as Chief Minister of Odisha. Since then, he has emerged as an invincible leader in the state and is still continuing as the people’s Chief Minister. He has completed 21 years in the Office of Chief Minister of Odisha.
Biju Patnaik was born March 5, 1916, and died on April 17, 1997. He was Chief Minister of Odisha for two terms.