Orissa governor M C Bhandare today patted the back of the state government for effective steps to curb illegal mining activities in the state amidst walk out by the opposition Congress during his address to the state assembly on the first day of the brief budget session.
As soon as governor started reading his speech in the House, the Congress members led by the leader of opposition, Bhupinder Singh protested against the government decision to hold a brief budget session, its failure to institute an enquiry by the CBI into charges of mining scam, sexual exploitation of girl students in the Kanyashrams and the government failure to spend Central assistance under various schemes.
They walked out of the House as the governor went on reading his speech.
Much to the chagrin of the opposition members, governor Bhandare, in his speech, lauded various steps taken by the government to curb illegal mining activities in the state.
He said, the government has taken a number of steps to streamline the mineral administration and a State Level Task Force (SLTF) has been reconstituted under the chairmanship of the chief secretary for effective monitoring.
A dedicated State Level Enforcement Squad (SLES) has been constituted with mandate to conduct regular raid on illegal miners. Besides, newly designed transit passes have been introduced by the state government to keep a check on transportation of minerals.
Further, the government has decided to digitise the maps to delineate the lease boundaries correctly, detect illegal mining and curb manipulation of lease boundaries.
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While the government has issued guidelines for renewal of mining lease (RML), a State Level Co-ordination and Empowered Committee has been constituted to monitor and minimise delay in grant of approval for mineral concession, he said.
On the fiscal front, the governor appreciated various fiscal reform measures like expenditure rationalisation and revenue augmentation which have resulted in significant increase in the annual state plan size and capital outlay.
The fiscal turn around has also helped in implementation of various welfare schemes like Biju KBK Yojana, Gopabandhu Grameen Yojana, Biju Gramjyoti Yojana, Madhubabau pension yojana, Rs 2 per kg rice scheme and the proposed Biju Saharanchal Bidyut Yojana, out of the state’s own resources.
The capital outlay which was Rs 1038.06 crore in 2005-06 increased to Rs 3779.17 crore in 2008-09.
Similarly, the annual plan size of the state increased from Rs 3500 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 9500 in 2009-10.
On the debt management front, the government was able to make strides with the net debt stock of the state declining from 51.5 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2003-04 to 29.82 per cent in 2008-09.
It is inching closer to the desired level of 28 per cent as recommended by the Twelfth Finance Commission (TFC), he pointed out.
The ratio of interest to revenue receipts, which need to be within the prudential norm of 15 per cent, has already been achieved by 2007-08. The ratio has further declined to 11.74 per cent in 2008-09, Bhandare pointed out.
Referring to fisheries sector which plays an important role in the rural economy, he said, three new fishing harbours are proposed to be constructed at Bahabalpur, Chudamani and Chandipur with a projected outlay of Rs 110 crore.
Bhandare said, tourism has been identified as a focus area of development and tourism related infrastructure schemes like destination development, circuit development, mega tourism and rural tourism projects have been taken up. The government has set a target to attract 7.97 million tourists in 2010.
He said, the government intends to develop 19 airstrips spread over 15 districts in the state.
During the current fiscal, Rs 1 crore was provided to construct a new airstrip at Malkangiri. Besides, steps have been taken for construction of new airstrips at Paradeep, Kalinganagar, Dhamra.