During the meeting with the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik demanded special status to Odisha. The ruling BJD said the demand for special status would be further intensified. The BJP said that the issue should be raised at an appropriate forum. Congress has said that both BJJ-BJP have merged. That’s why the Center is neglecting the state.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik raised the issue during a meeting with NITI Aayog VC Suman Kumar Beri and member Dr Vinod K Paul at Naveen Niwas on Thursday. Naveen said that every year due to natural calamities like flood, cyclone and drought, people of Odisha are facing lot of problems. As a result, infrastructure is getting damaged in most of the districts and the government has to spend a huge amount on rehabilitation and restoration work. The state is suffering huge economic losses due to natural calamities. The development of the state is getting hampered due to natural calamities. Naveen has argued that the special category status is necessary as the state needs the infrastructure to deal with the disaster. Not only this, Odisha is being neglected in terms of railway and telecommunication services. Telecom is still not possible in some areas.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that the state is facing a lot of problems every year due to natural calamities like floods, cyclones and droughts. There is damage to infrastructure in most of the districts. This hinders the development work. The concern demands special category status. This is a very important and long standing demand.”
Assam has got special category status along with the northeastern states of Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. But the Center is repeatedly rejecting the demands of states like Odisha. Politics has heated up regarding the issues. The ruling BJD said the party would advance the interest of the state. The BJP said it should be raised at the appropriate forum. The Congress criticized both the BJD and the BJP.
BJD MLA Bhupinder Singh said that I thanked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for raising this issue with the Deputy Chairman of NITI Aayog. Odisha is facing a lot of problems due to natural calamities like flood, cyclone and drought. We have raised this issue in Parliament also. Odisha is also a scheduled state like Assam which enjoys special status. We will intensify this campaign.”
“There is no problem in raising the demand for special status for the state. But the issue should be taken up with the central government at an appropriate forum,” BJP chief whip Mohan Manjhi said.
Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said that there are many problems in Odisha. The states need special and financial power. This is a long pending demand of the state. BJD and BJP are both sides of the same coin. That’s why the Center is neglecting the state.
The special category status system was first introduced in the country in 1969. Earlier 3 states Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam got special status. A total of 11 states have got this status in the last 50 years. Economically and structurally backward Odisha has been raising its demands in various forums including Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, but the Center did not pay heed to it. The 7th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog will be held in New Delhi on 7 August 2022, which will be chaired by the Prime Minister. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik can again raise the demand in this meeting.
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