New Delhi: Reiterating Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) long-standing demand of special category status, BJD MP Sasmit Patra Wednesday urged the government to include natural calamities as one the provisions while considering about special category status.
Speaking during the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the BJD legislator said that cyclone Fani destroyed millions of trees, several lakh houses and also caused large scale damage to public property.
“States like Odisha and Andhra Pradesh are vulnerable to this kind of geo-climatic changes. Around 35 per cent cyclones and natural calamities had hit Odisha between 1900 and 2019. Considering this, the Odisha Chief Minister urged the Union government to provide special focus status to states like Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and other states which are prone to natural calamities. There is a need to provide funds in the ratio of 90:10 to states which face natural calamities,” Patra said.
He also urged the government to allow natural calamity to be added as special provision in the special category status so that states like Odisha and Andhra Pradesh can manage to provide appropriate relief in the event of such calamities.