Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik demanded special status for Odisha during the meeting with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman. Ruling BJD said that the demand for special status will be intensified further. BJP said that the issue should be raised in the proper forum. Congress has said that both BJJ-BJP has merged. That’s why the center is neglecting the state.
Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik raised the issue during a meeting with NITI Aayog VC Suman Kumar Bery and Member Dr. Vinod K. Paul at Naveen Niwas on Thursday. Naveen said that the People of Odisha are facing lots of problems due to natural calamities like floods, cyclones, and droughts every year. As a result, the infrastructure in most of the districts is being damaged and govt have to spend a huge amount on rehabilitation and restoration work. The state is facing heavy financial losses due to natural calamities. The development of the state is being hampered due to frequent natural calamities. Naveen has argued that the Special Catagory status is necessary as the state needs infrastructure to tackle Disaster. Not only that, Odisha is being neglected in terms of railways and telecom services. Telecommunication is still not possible in some areas.
Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik said that” The state is facing lots of problems due to natural calamities like floods, cyclones, and droughts every year. infrastructure in most of the districts is being damaged. The development is being hampered due to this. Concern demands Special category status. This is a very important and long stand demand”
Assam along with the North Eastern states of Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh has got Special Catagory status. But the center is repeatedly rejecting the demands of states like Odisha. Politics warm up over the issues. The ruling BJD said that the party will intensify the interest of the state. BJP said It should be raised in the proper forum. Congress criticized both BJD & BJP.
BJD MLA Bhupinder Singh said that” I thanked Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik for raising the issue before NITI Ayoga Vice Chairman. Odisha is facing lots of problems due to natural calamities like floods, cyclones, and draughts. We have also raised the issue in Parliament. Odisha is also a scheduled state like Asam to get Special status. We will intensify this campaign further”
“There is no problem to raise the special status demand for the state. But the issue should be raised in a proper forum near Union govt” said BJP Chief whip Mohan Majhi
Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said that “There are lots of problems in Odisha. States need special & financial power. It is a long pending demand of the state. Both BJD & BJP are both sides of a coin. So Center is neglecting to state”
The Special Category Status system was first introduced in the country in 1969. The First 3 states Jammu Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam got special status. A total of 11 states have received this status in the last 50 years. Odisha, which is economically and infrastructurally backward, has been presenting its demands in various forums including Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha, but the Center has not taken it into consideration. 7th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog to be held on 7th August 2022 at New Delhi, which will be chaired by Prime Minister. Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik is likely to raise the demand again in this meeting.
With inputs from News18
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