New Delhi: The Governing Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has reiterated its demand for a special focus State status for Odisha before the Central Government today.
BJD Leader of Rajya Sabha , Sasmit Patra today raised the special focus State demand for Odisha as the State has been facing different kinds of natural calamities including cyclones frequently.
Speaking in the Upper House of the Parliament, Dr.Patra said Odisha has faced around 99 cyclones in the last 100 years including the 1999 super cyclone, cyclone Phailin and Cyclone Hudhud, which has caused massive damages in different sectors in the State.
It takes a long time and demands a huge amount of money for restoring the infrastructure after such natural disasters. Due to this, the State ruling party led by BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been repeatedly demanding for special focus state tag for Odisha before the Centre.
The BJD leader also informed the House that the State Government is not demanding for Special State Status for Odisha, which was turned down by the Government of India.
The State is demanding for a Special Focus State tag, which means the Centre will provide grants under different schemes and programmes in the ratio of 90:10 (Centre: State) in accordance with special States for a period of three years, whenever the State faces a cyclone, he said.
Dr.Patra also informed that the rule should be applicable for all other coastal States like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, which are also facing cyclones.
In August last year, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had urged the Centre to make Odisha a special focus state and allocate funds for disaster proofing.
Addressing the governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, the Chief Minister had raised the demand.
The State is impacted almost every year by natural disasters, it is important to have disaster resilient infrastructure to protect the State and its people from the vagaries of nature, Naveen Patnaik had stated at the meet.