Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday virtually inaugurated the distribution of free smartphones to families living in the Swabhiman area of Malkangiri district.
On this occasion, Patnaik said, “The Swabhiman area is always there in my heart and my efforts will continue to make it one of the developed areas in the state.”
“The government will provide a smartphone to each of the families living in Swabhiman area. This will not just help their children keep pace with online education but also help them stay connected with others. Swabhiman area has already four mobile towers and soon three more towers with 4G facility will be set up,” he announced.
Reminding people of his visit to the Swabhiman area in July 2018, he further said that he had inaugurated the Gurupriya bridge. Then he had announced a special package of Rs100 crore. This package has since been increased to Rs 215 crore.
In this enhanced package, importance has been laid on services such as education, livelihood, health service, communication, drinking water, irrigation, house and bank. Similarly, for the betterment of members of Mission Shakti, exposure visits will be organised, he observed.
While throwing lights on the developmental works presently going on in Swabhiman area, he said, “Considering the immense interest the people are showing to carry on turmeric cultivation, the government is taking steps to set up a turmeric processing and branding unit there.”
Regarding the ongoing developmental projects in Swabhiman area, he said the construction of a 33X11 KV sub-station will be completed soon and 11 KV 3-phase line connection will be given to each panchayat. A sum of Rs 100 crore will be spent to give all the villages concrete roads, and to construct a 78-km-long black-topped road along with seven bridges.
“This apart, work on a mega piped water supply project has been started and 250 tube wells have already been set up,” he informed.
To provide irrigation facilities to the people of Swabhiman area, 43 lift irrigation points and 419 cluster deep bore wells will be set up to irrigate 1,700 hectares of land. Construction work of 82 Anganwadi centres and health sub-centres is going on and will be completed soon,” Naveen said.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister appealed the Maoists to shun violence, return to the mainstream and be instrumental in advancing the developmental works.
PNN