Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will attend the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting to be held in New Delhi Saturday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Though there is no official announcement regarding the issues Naveen is likely to raise in the meeting, sources indicated that agricultural development and issue related to the Maoist-affected areas in the state may come up for discussion at the meeting. He may also demand special fund for the aspiration districts.
The state government is preparing a new Agriculture Policy. Therefore, Naveen is likely to suggest to the NITI Aayog to transform agriculture through structural reforms. Moreover, the state government is planning to set up Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) to help the farmers to sell their products in nearby markets and boost their income, the source said.
The other issues that may be discussed at the meeting include rain water harvesting and drought situation and relief operations.
On disaster and relief measures, the state government will brief the Aayog about how Odisha is emerging as a model state in disaster management from 1999 super cyclone to Fani in 2019. Naveen may demand revision of funding norms of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) during the meeting, they said.
Last month, during a meeting with a Central team on cyclone Fani, the state government had demanded revision of the SDRF and NDRF norms to make provision for sufficient funds for restoring power sector, telecom and other critical infrastructures.